When discussing using structured databases to replace Excel-based spreadsheets, there is a trade-off. However, in the business space, I feel people usually ignore the labour cost that comes with the structured database, including the learning costs as well as the time spent on navigating the tooling.
The thing is, there are many advantages in spreadsheets that cannot be easily replaced by structured systems. It’s agile, widely accessible, and people are already familiar with the UI. For simple tasks, it is faster to use Excel to perform data input and do quick and dirty analysis.
One thing I don’t like about structured database is that people talked about it as if it’s the magic solution and can beat Excel in every single way but the truth is it is not. Sure, structured database has its unique advantages and cannot be easily replaced. It is structured — even though it might take more time to input data into the system, it does save the time to conduct data validation to keep the data clean as much as possible, thus also make the data consolidation process and analysis much easier.
I just hope that when people are talking about migrating from Excel-based spreadsheet to a database system, they can weigh the pros and cons and be aware and realize the time spent on the labour cost and training. The struggle is real.
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