Excel: The software that's hard to quit

"In the 1990s some computer games had a "boss key" that allowed staff to call up an Excel spreadsheet if they needed to look like they were working. Now bosses might frown upon a worker caught labouring over a spreadsheet. Excel, owned by Microsoft, is 40-years-old. Among some tech leaders it's seen as, at best, a blocker to smoother digital workflows and AI, at worst, an accident waiting to happen."

"Excel's persistence is partly down to the way it remains embedded in technology education, along with Word and PowerPoint, says Tom Wilkie, chief technology officer of data visualization firm Grafana. "Excel is just a really good tool. If you want to look at a small dataset, try an idea, or make a quick chart for a presentation, there's nothing better for quick and easy analysis," he says."

"The problem is that people and businesses fail to distinguish between data processing and data analysis and visualization, says Prof Mark Whitehorn, emeritus professor of analytics at Dundee University. "There are all these small departments where data comes in, goes into a spreadsheet, is run through macros, and it spits out the other end," Whitehorn says. A macro can be thought of as a short cut."

Some 1990s computer games included a "boss key" to call up Excel to appear working. Excel is 40 years old and remains widely used; research by Acuity Training finds two-thirds of office workers use Excel at least once every hour. Excel's persistence partly stems from its embedding in technology education alongside Word and PowerPoint. Excel is effective for quick exploration of small datasets and making charts. People and businesses often fail to distinguish data processing from analysis and visualization. Many small departments route incoming data through spreadsheets and macros, creating poorly documented, hard-to-maintain workflows. This decentralization makes it hard to secure and move data around the organization.

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