Inventory Planning: 5 reasons why an App is better than a Spreadsheet

Often we are asked how the technology of an App is better than a bespoke Spreadsheet. So here’s just five reasons that spring to mind:

1. More standardised and consistent with industry best practice

Good app designers have spent years understanding their industry and have spoken to hundreds of businesses to know best practice. Custom spreadsheets get complex and awkward pretty fast and can be susceptible to individual bad habits. Apps have also undergone rigorous testing so will be more accurate and less error prone.

2. Easier to get set up

Apps are already developed. No need to develop anything yourself. The only thing to do is some configuration, some setup, and ride the usually very manageable learning curve.

3. Support network

Spreadsheets within an organization are usually managed by one individual or a small team. If a key staff member leaves or is unavailable things can get messy fast. Apps have support staff as well as networks of other users to call upon so training is easy, and multiple people can be over the business critical areas.

4. Usually better featured

Of course, one of the advantages of a custom spreadsheet is that despite the cost and awkwardness it can be designed for specific operations in your business. But it will usually not have as many features as an app that has been developed for several years – you’ll often find amazing features that you didn’t think of yourself or are useful in other areas.

5. More secure

It can be devastating if sensitive information such as your financial data, sales records, or manufacturing and operations processes are accidentally accessed by an unauthorised person and leaked. This can happen if your spreadsheets are stored on an unsecured shared drive or accidentally forwarded to the wrong person. Cloud apps protect their data behind secure logins, and the raw data itself is stored by cloud providers like AWS or MS Azure with very rigorous security practices.

To compare yourself, we have made available a 2 weeks free trial of the StockTrim app. To get free access, click here.

This article was originally published at stocktrim.com.