Should your business migrate its Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to a bespoke software application?

Migrating your business data from Excel spreadsheets to a bespoke software application is something that many businesses go through. It’s often seen as the ‘big’ project, which will increase efficiency and save time and money in the long run.

But before you embark on such a project you should consider:

• What value will this new application provide?
• How much can it improve productivity?
• Is this solution going to solve our problems or just give us the impression we have solved them?

Your business may find itself solving symptoms rather than root causes if you attempt to move without answering these questions. Here are three key reasons why:

• First, if your aim is to repair existing spreadsheet issues – for example, the performance of your spreadsheet is too slow or it’s become unmanageable due to size – then that may be an insurmountable problem. It could require a complete overhaul of your business process, which may not even work after you’ve finished developing the new application.
• Secondly, if you want to take advantage of web capabilities but without investing in back-end server technology – for example, cloud computing – you’ll need to determine whether your users will trust editing spreadsheets on another device without fear of losing their work.
• Finally, you must evaluate whether the specification requirements are realistic and achievable within existing resource constraints. If they aren’t then there’s another issue that needs addressing first.

So before taking the plunge into bespoke business application development, ask yourself these fundamental questions.

If you are finding it hard to answer them, Contact Leeds Software Development for more info. With over 20 years of professional expertise in the market, we have created many successful bespoke solutions that have transformed businesses just like yours.