Spreadsheet replacement
Replacing the spreadsheets your business actually runs on
Nearly every small business runs on a spreadsheet that started as a quick fix and became load-bearing. It works, right up until two people need it at once, or the person who built it is on holiday, or a formula breaks and nobody notices for a fortnight. We replace those with software built for the job.
- TradeyHub replaced 5+
- Fixed price, quoted first
- Built around your process
Spreadsheets are excellent, until they are load-bearing
There is nothing wrong with a spreadsheet. They are fast to build, free, and understood by everybody, which is exactly why they end up running quoting, scheduling, stock, job tracking and half the reporting in businesses turning over millions.
The problem is not the spreadsheet. It is what happens when the business grows around it. One person owns it and nobody else fully understands it. Two people edit it at once and one version quietly wins. A formula gets dragged one row short and the total has been wrong since March. Somebody types the same customer details into it for the fourth time this week.
None of that appears on an invoice, which is precisely why it persists for years. The cost is hours, errors and key-person risk, and it is usually far larger than the business thinks.
This is the most common starting point for custom software development.
The four signals worth acting on
One of these is normal. Three of them and the spreadsheet is costing more than the software would.
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Two people need it at once
The moment more than one person has to work in it simultaneously, you are managing versions rather than data. Shared cloud copies delay this rather than solving it, because they do not stop two people editing the same row with different intentions.
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The same thing is typed twice
A customer entered in the quote sheet, again in the job sheet, again in the invoice. Every retype is a chance to get it wrong, and the reconciliation afterwards costs more than the typing did.
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One person understands it
If the sheet has an author and that author is the only one who can safely change it, that is not a spreadsheet problem, it is a business continuity problem waiting for a holiday or a resignation.
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You cannot answer simple questions
How many jobs are open, what is the average value, which customer is most profitable. If answering takes an afternoon of copying between tabs, the data is trapped rather than stored.
Proof
TradeyHub: more than five spreadsheets, replaced
TradeyHub is the clearest example we have. The business behind it was running jobs, quotes, scheduling, customer records and invoicing across separate spreadsheets, with the same information retyped between them and no reliable way to see the state of the work.
We designed and built a single platform covering all of it, and we still run it. That is the whole argument on this page as a working system rather than a claim: the data is entered once, the job moves through stages instead of between tabs, and the questions that used to take an afternoon are now a screen.
Read the TradeyHub case studyHow the replacement actually happens
Nobody switches off a working spreadsheet on a Friday and starts on Monday. It is done in stages.
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Step 1
Map what the sheet really does
Including the parts nobody documented: the manual step every Tuesday, the column that means something different from its heading, the workaround everyone has stopped noticing.
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Step 2
Find the smallest useful first version
One process, end to end, that removes real work. Not everything at once. A system that does one job properly gets used; one that does nine jobs adequately gets abandoned.
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Step 3
Build it and run both
The new system runs alongside the spreadsheet while people get used to it. That overlap is the difference between a rollout and a crisis.
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Step 4
Move the data across
Properly, with the historic records that people actually refer back to, rather than starting empty and telling everyone to check the old sheet.
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Step 5
Extend where it pays
The next process, once the first has proved itself. Most businesses stop after two or three, because by then the expensive problems are gone.
Start by finding out what the admin actually costs
The free review maps where your team's hours go and what the repeated work is worth in a year. It is ninety minutes, and you keep the written findings and a fixed quote whether you go ahead or not.
A fair number of those sessions end with us saying that a spreadsheet is genuinely the right tool for now, and what to fix instead.
Get in touch
Talk to us about replacing spreadsheets
A few lines is enough. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what it would cost and how quickly we can be there. No hard sell, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
Frequently asked questions
If the answer is not here, ask us. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
When is it worth replacing a spreadsheet with software?
When more than one person needs it at once, when the same information is typed into it twice, when only one person really understands it, or when simple questions about your own business take an afternoon to answer. One of those is normal. Three of them and the sheet is costing more than the software would.
How much does it cost to replace a spreadsheet?
A focused first system that replaces one process end to end typically lands in the low thousands. The full range for custom software is wider, and the cost guide sets out real figures and what moves them. You get a fixed price before any work starts.
Will we lose the history in the spreadsheet?
No. Moving the historic records across is part of the job, because the first time somebody needs to look up a job from two years ago and cannot, the new system loses their trust permanently.
What if the team does not want to change?
That is the most common reason these projects fail, and it is why we build the smallest useful version first and run it alongside the spreadsheet. People adopt a system that visibly saves them work. They resist one that arrives complete and demands they change everything at once.
Could an off-the-shelf product do this instead?
Often, and where it can we will say so. Off-the-shelf is cheaper to start and quicker to run. Custom earns its place when your process is genuinely different from the standard one, or when the subscription across five years exceeds the build. The comparison page sets out that arithmetic.
