For those companies relying on Excel for budgeting and forecasting (and there are many), they understand the great value it brings – but often, this comes at a price (be it lacking security, lengthy formatting time, or inaccurate data). Are there certain situations when Excel just isn’t enough?

Perhaps it isn’t necessarily a case of Excel not being enough, but rather, that you need more. How can you tell when you’ve outgrown Excel for budgeting and forecasting?

Here are some key identifiers:

• You rely on multiple contributors to one spreadsheet.

• Frequent reviews and edits of spreadsheet content are required.

• Spreadsheets get so complex that only one very special and specific person in the whole company is allowed (or able) to maintain them.

• You require manual entry of data into several different systems or spreadsheets.

As we mentioned, Excel is a great tool for budgeting. However, it has its limitations that become increasingly evident as your company and processes start to grow and evolve.

Why invest in an enterprise solution that does more with Excel?

Integration automation is a major benefit. For example, if you have several different systems (sales, shipping, payroll, accounting) that all share information, why enter all that information in every system? With integration automation, that information is entered once, then automatically shared with all other relevant entities. This eliminates those often-costly manual entry errors and saves time and resources.

What about spreadsheet complexity? With Excel, you have some control over visibility, but not a lot. This can result in spreadsheets that contain a bunch of information that various users don’t actually need to see (or even shouldn’t see). This increases the time it takes to budget due to confusion or just having to wade through the content that isn’t required for their own processes. With a specialized budgeting system, you have better control over this. This allows for your team members to retain better control over their numbers and makes it so that not just one person is forced to maintain them all.

Once your company gets to a certain size or once you have a variety of processes that need to ‘speak’ to each other, a centralized system gives you that power.

The True Sky system works with Excel, giving you the best of both worlds. It provides integration, security, and accuracy, all while using the familiar interface of Excel.  If you’ve outgrown your current usage of Excel for budgeting, get in touch with us and see how we can help. Call us today at 1 855 878 3759, send us an email at info@truesky.com, or visit www.truesky.com for more information.