In October last year, the UK government admitted that an Excel spreadsheet error caused them to misrepresent their COVID-19 numbers. According to reports, the error on the nation’s track and trace system occurred when the Excel spreadsheet that was being used to monitor confirmed cases of the virus reached its maximum file size and failed to update. According to the UK’s pandemic response unit, Public Health England (PHE), around 15 841 cases had been left out of national totals because of the mistake. 

And this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened. Research from 2017 found that up to 90% of all spreadsheets have errors that affect their results. And often, these errors can prove costly. Just ask TransAlta, a big Canadian power generator, who lost a massive $24m back in 2003 thanks to a simple spreadsheet error or JP Morgan who made a miscalculation due to a cut and paste error that ultimately cost them $6 billion. 

Automation efficiency

If spreadsheets are still your “go-to” solution for tabulating data, creating graphs and monitoring and managing your expenses, it’s time to look at alternatives. Sure, a spreadsheet may be the traditional way of making sense of large amounts of data and you may have been using them for years but, in many instances, they’ve outlived their usefulness. This is because they lack the level of accuracy that modern businesses need, particularly because they are not able to provide the real-time visibility that is required for businesses to grow and remain competitive. Spreadsheets can also prove complicated to use when the amount of data you are dealing with is very big; as the UK Coronavirus snafu illustrates.  

In addition to eliminating inaccuracies and providing greater clarity and higher efficiency, automation software offers time savings and cost reductions by freeing up employees to focus on more high-value work. 

Organisations no longer have the time or the resources to undertake lengthy, manual expense management processes. If you want to manage your entire technology environment via a single, user-friendly, automated platform, we have the perfect solution for you. To find out more about how we can help, contact us here.