5 Reasons Why It’s Time to Let the Spreadsheet Go

Say goodbye to spreadsheets! Manage better with an online scheduler.

If you find yourself on the savvy side of technological advancements, then the following statement may come as a complete shock – thousands of businesses out there, regardless of industry, are using Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet solution to schedule their employees, handle jobs, or as a project management tool. A spreadsheet is good for many tasks, but these areas should not be included in that list. Even if you’re an Excel master, spreadsheets should be saved for storing or archiving data, processing numbers, or using formulas to calculate whatever needs calculating. If you’re a manager using spreadsheets for scheduling, or you’ve been an employee of a manager doing so, you know that it’s not a fun situation for anyone. If you need more convincing, here are 5 reasons why spreadsheets should be a thing of the past:

1. Spreadsheets have major limitations

Anyone who has worked with computers for any amount of time understands that spreadsheets are something to be feared, not used regularly. Besides being ultimately time-consuming, spreadsheets are confusing! You need to take an entire class on Excel just to know the basics of the program. There’s no collaboration or continuity because nothing can really be done in real-time. Especially when it comes to scheduling where changes occur frequently, a spreadsheet can seriously limit the amount of work a manager can do.

2. Spreadsheets can’t automate anything.

If you’re still using spreadsheets to handle any part of your business, then the word ‘automation’ probably sounds scary, but it’s not! If you could take the biggest, most time-consuming parts of your job (like scheduling, work order management, inventory ordering) and have a system set up to automatically do those things for you, your life would be radically different. If you have employees who handle specific jobs every day or every week, you must create or edit a spreadsheet for the same change every time that next job comes up. A spreadsheet doesn’t save you time, it just creates more work.

3. Spreadsheets are prone to error

A reality nobody wants to acknowledge is that human error is a big deal, especially when you’re talking about your employees’ schedule. Items like spreadsheets or Word documents where everything is manually entered are breeding grounds for errors and problems, especially if you’re attempting to house a lot of information on one document. One mistyped number or date, and your schedule could spiral out of control. This leads to unhappy customers blaming your unknowing employees for something that isn’t their fault.

4. Spreadsheets aren’t intuitive or easy to use

If you look at a blank Excel workbook, even the information at the top of the screen (where you should be able to see your options) looks scary and confusing. Formulas, cells, different colors or lettering, bad, good, neutral specifications, data entry…it all ends up sounding and looking like gibberish to the common spreadsheet user. Do you wrap text? Do you insert or delete rows or columns? How does formatting work? Do you want to clear or fill this cell? What in the world is conditional formatting?! The list goes on and on. No one has time to learn all the ins and outs of an Excel spreadsheet, especially if you’re trying to manage many employees.

5. Spreadsheets restrict communication

Communication is key for any business to run smoothly, whether it’s between customers, employees, or suppliers. Any miscommunication can unravel your business relationship in a heartbeat. If you’re trying to handle the schedule for multiple employees on a spreadsheet, no one knows what’s going on unless you walk them through it. Spreadsheets can’t alert you to scheduling conflicts or changes. Spreadsheets can’t show you where you might have an available shift for an employee looking for more work. There is no way for a spreadsheet to help you do your job in a proactive, communicative way.

Online Scheduling to the Rescue!

If you’re still using spreadsheets for scheduling, it’s time to make a change. Using a software product that includes an online scheduling feature is an affordable, time-saving upgrade that will help to take your business to the next level. By using a product like Janitorial Manager, you can have all your business information stored in one place, including your calendar for scheduling. You can make changes to the schedule and communicate with your team in real-time, all within an easy-to-use app that can be downloaded to any smart device by any employee with a login. Because the Janitorial Manager online scheduler is cloud-based, anyone can access the information wherever they are, at any time. No more shuffling through spreadsheets – schedule a free demo of the best online scheduler today!