Business Systems
Why Somali Businesses Outgrow Excel
The point at which spreadsheets stop supporting an organisation and start constraining it — and how to recognise it before it becomes expensive.
Spreadsheets are an excellent analytical tool and a poor operating system. Almost every growing enterprise begins with them, and most continue long after the cost has become structural rather than occasional.
Indicators that the threshold has been crossed
- Several people maintain versions of the same file and the versions disagree.
- Recorded stock and physical stock routinely differ.
- Customer balances are held separately from sales records.
- Management questions cannot be answered without preparation.
- A critical file is understood by only one member of staff.
What replaces it
Not simply software. The sequence that works is: document the processes that generate the most administrative work, define what management must see and how often, select a platform against those requirements, then migrate one operating area and stabilise it before extending further.
A realistic expectation
Six months after a well-sequenced implementation, an organisation should have one record of sales, customers and stock; reporting produced from the system rather than assembled by hand; and written procedures new staff can follow. That is a modest ambition and it changes how the business is governed.