Handy tool or ticking time bomb?

If I had a dollar for every time I heard about a problem caused by the overuse of spreadsheets, I could retire early. By “overuse of spreadsheets", I’m referring to tasks that spreadsheets were not meant to handle, such as reporting, business intelligence, shipment schedules, etc…

I know many companies are guilty of this, but I doubt that management at those companies know how much time and effort is wasted on spreadsheets. Here’s something to try: If your company uses spreadsheets extensively and you don’t know how long they take to create and manage, find out. You may be surprised.

I wish that a little wasted time was the worst problem associated with spreadsheet overuse, but it’s not. Read this forum post to learn about more potentially serious problems, as well as a solution.