In four years we bought three different tools to replace the same spreadsheet. Each one was better at what the spreadsheet did. Each one was gone within a year. The spreadsheet is still open on my second screen.
The reason, once we looked, was simple: the spreadsheet did something none of the tools were sold for. Anyone could add a column. When a new question came up, someone added a column, and the answer lived right next to everything else.
We stopped trying to replace it. Instead we write down, once a quarter, which columns nobody has touched - and delete them. It is the cheapest tool decision we have ever made.
Discussion