Replace a tool / Spreadsheets
A spreadsheet was never meant to run your business.
Eight people, one file, and nobody’s sure which copy is right. We replace it with a system built around how you work, then we run it. No deposit. No build invoice.
Where a spreadsheet is great, and where it stops fitting.
This isn’t a takedown. Spreadsheets are brilliant at what they were built for. They just aren’t operations systems, and most businesses find that out by accident.
Where it’s great
- Quick math and one-off analysis
- Budgets and financial models
- A list one person looks after
- Everyone already knows how to use it
Where it stops fitting
- Several people changing the same numbers
- Work with steps, owners and deadlines
- Records you may have to prove later
- Anything that depends on someone remembering
Five walls every growing spreadsheet hits.
“Who changed this?”
Version history can show that a cell changed. It won’t show why, or who signed off, and someone has to think to look. Our systems keep a log of who changed what. The lab inventory system we run records each stock change and who made it.
Everyone does everything.
A cell can’t have an owner. So three people do the same job and nobody does the other one, and you find out when a customer calls. In a real system, every step has one person, one status and one due date.
It works because one person remembers.
The steps live in someone’s head, and when they’re out, so is the process. The lab we work with kept lot numbers and expiry dates by hand. Now one scan reads both, and the kiosk refuses an expired lot.
The same number lives in three places.
It comes in on a form, gets copied into a sheet, then gets typed again on the invoice. For Jexpo, crews fill one screen, and the app writes 94 priced line items across 7 trade sheets into the retailer’s real spreadsheet template.
One bad formula, and nobody notices.
Researcher Ray Panko reviewed audits of real business spreadsheets. Important errors turned up in 91% of the 55 studied. A system checks each entry when it goes in, and nobody can overwrite a formula by accident.
Have you outgrown it?
Tick what sounds familiar. Three or more usually means the spreadsheet is costing you more than it looks.
0 of 6 Tick the ones that sound familiar.
From a shared spreadsheet to one screen everyone trusts.
A clinical lab ran its reagent stock on a shared spreadsheet. We built Bufferstock and we still run it.
| Reagent | Lot | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample reagent A | L-2041 | Fridge 2, shelf 1 | In date |
| Sample reagent B | L-1987 | Freezer 1, shelf 3 | Expires in 3 days |
| Sample reagent C | L-1902 | Fridge 1, shelf 2 | Expired, blocked |
A drawn example with sample data.
A log you can trust
Every change is recorded with who made it, so nobody has to ask.
Each person sees their job
Your team sees what’s theirs, not sixty columns of everyone else’s.
Rules built in
The kiosk refuses an expired lot. Only an admin can override it, with a PIN and a reason, and both are logged.
One entry, not three
A single barcode scan reads the product, lot number and expiry date.
No deposit. No build invoice.
Projects like these usually get quoted at $8,000 to $40,000. We don’t ask you for that. The build goes into one flat monthly rate, locked for 48 months, with hosting, backups, maintenance and development hours included.
You watch it work before you depend on it.
Nobody stays on a bad file because they love it. They stay because they’re scared of the switch. Here’s how we moved Summit DME while it kept taking orders.
1
The old way keeps running
Your team doesn’t stop. Summit’s old system handled about 27 orders a day during the move.
2
We copy it twice
First a full copy, then only what changed overnight, so nothing added during the move gets lost.
3
We test before it’s live
Every change runs on a test copy first. That was true then, and it still is.
When to keep the spreadsheet.
Custom software isn’t always the answer. We’ll tell you if it isn’t, even if that means we lose the work.
One person owns the file and nobody else touches it.
You use it for analysis, not for running daily work.
An off-the-shelf tool already does what you need. Buy that first.
We run what we build.
7,900+
past orders moved for Summit DME
21
hospice accounts live on that system
250
reagents set up from a lab’s own records
What people ask first.
Can we still export to a spreadsheet?
Yes. A system can export to a spreadsheet whenever you need one. For Jexpo, the app fills the retailer’s real template, with its formulas and layout kept.
Will we lose what’s in our spreadsheets?
That’s the first thing we plan around. For the lab, we carried over 177 stock lots with their lot numbers and expiry dates. For Summit DME, more than 7,900 past orders moved across.
What does it cost?
Projects like these usually get quoted at $8,000 to $40,000. We don’t ask you for that. Most systems run $500 to $2,000 a month, locked for 48 months, with no deposit and no build invoice.
What’s included in the monthly rate?
The build, hosting, uptime, backups, maintenance, and development hours every month for changes and small features.
What if only part of our spreadsheet is the problem?
Then we’d replace that part and leave the rest alone. Tell us which file hurts most, and we’ll say honestly whether replacing it makes sense.
Show us the spreadsheet.
Tell us which file causes the most trouble. One of us will reply, and we’ll say honestly whether we’re the right fit.