The Way You Probably Do Things Now
Most of our Excel skills come from messing around in Excel and Googling problems we are stuck on.
Putting in numbers and using Excel as a calculator is what the majority of casual Excel users know.
What you need to know is Excel is super versatile and complicated before you start handling your business sheets in Excel.
Excel can do a ton of magical stuff from calculations to Digital art to dashboards (yes - you read that right).
10 Reasons to Consider an Excel Consultant
In reality, Excel is a whale. The deeper you go into the water; the more you start to see just how massive it really is.
Moving around in Excel can be difficult and confusing unless you have an expert by your side; someone who has seen it all before
Here are 10 reasons why having an expert by your side is a good idea:
1. Bespoke Tools
Every sheet gets more & more unique as it grows day by day. No matter how big it gets or how sensitive the information is, you can always make it faster, smarter, and better than ever.
From built-in functions and formulas to developing custom macro functions that automate repetitive tasks is a huge improvement.
We understand that learning VBA and developing macros sounds time-consuming, but you can always get an expert to do it for you.
This can save you the trouble of paying for fancy software that doesn’t do exactly what you need.
Excel Consultants are specialists in creating bespoke tools that are robust, easy to use, and integrate seamlessly with your work life.
2. Process Improvement
Excel experts are so much more than spreadsheet gurus. They are data analysts, process architects, and engineers. They are able to identify patterns that can save you time, money, and energy.
Knowing your business and the solutions you currently have, the improvable process gaps will always be obvious to the experts.
Excel consultants can speed things up by almost 50% by eliminating inefficient tasks and automating repetitive tasks.
3. On-Demand Support
Experts should provide regular support to your ever-evolving Excel sheets. In case any issues pop up in a sensitive document or you just can’t crunch all the data before an important meeting, we will be there for you.
4. Administration
Manual data entry is tiring and prone to errors. Excel can be worked around to import data from various platforms with advanced techniques.
Consultants know how to reduce data entry by integrating Excel with various platforms.
Tools can also be developed to make your data entry more efficient and accurate.
5. Data Analysis
The art of finding patterns and trends in data is different than just working with Excel. Data analysts work with data and find the element you were missing.
Excel was actually built for data analysis and data procession.
An Excel sheet can be super good to look at and readable because at the end of the day that’s how it is the most efficient.
Simple visualisations like dashboards or report sheets make simplifying your sheets a must. A dashboard can be custom-built to report the insights that are affecting our business.
6. Financial Modelling
Financial Modelling involves utilising variables to represent real-world outcomes. Testing and adjusting these variables is sensitive as it can affect the outcome heavily.
When you want to examine a situation from a new angle, a lot of work is involved in modifying the model to fit your new needs.
Financial models need to be extremely accurate. One small mistake could cost you a fortune and may impact your chances of getting funding.
An Excel expert can develop a financial model based on the variables that affect your business numbers. Through this automated model, a new result can be generated with a few clicks.
7. Reporting
Reviewing large spreadsheets is nothing less than a huge mess, especially when there are portions with multiple criteria.
Typically, a manual setup of filters would be necessary before you duplicate your data into a separate worksheet. Now you’d be able to process and format it for your analysis or meeting.
An Excel consultant can shortcut this hectic process. Just with a single button setup, the data will be processed and ready to go.
8. Save Time & Money
Wasting 30 minutes daily equates to 130 hours a year?! 130 hours of full-time work means a waste of almost £2,000 over an average salary.
The majority of manual processes are repetitive in Excel. They easily take more than an hour every day.
The right Excel Consultant can identify these repetitive cycles and develop an alternative that does the repetitive tasks in seconds.
Imagine the increase in your work capacity and revenue if you start saving 130 Hours per Employee!
9. Less Effort
Repetitive work not only wastes expensive hours but also takes a hit on efficiency.
Your work process slows down your entire system. This is a huge waste of energy and effort. These mundane and boring tasks take our focus away from other important work.
An expert Excel Consultant can create a custom spreadsheet that will replace your manual processes saving you energy to dedicate to more important tasks.
10. Document Generation
Excel sheets can be exported to other formats like Word, PDF, or any other Microsoft application. Excel makes generating reports, invoices, and statements easier.
An Excel Consultant is well experienced in generating documents in any format needed all the while automating the process.
Is My Industry Suitable For Excel Consulting?
If you use Excel then the short answer is “YES”.
Excel is one of the most flexible tools ever made by Microsoft. It can be moulded to fit your exact business processes.
There are some efficiency problems that almost every business spreadsheet has no matter what the industry. These processes can always be optimised to be faster and more efficient.
What Can An Excel Consultant Do For You?
Excel is one of the most used platforms by businesses. The solutions it provides are never-ending.
Each and every project is unique, allowing us to show our full creative side with Excel because the experts always make it work for you.
A Guide To Choosing The Right Excel Consultant
Choosing the right Excel Consultant is a bit tricky and you might be left wondering, especially when you don’t have expert knowledge of Excel.
Start off with a casual chat to discover if this consultant is the right choice for you and your business. Apart from your compatibility below are a few important points to keep in mind when looking for an Excel Consultant:
Problem Solving, Communication, and Flexibility are the key factors. A creative mind will always finish the job with a clean touch. These qualities are crucial and will create the best possible output.
A Case Study
Emily owns an events company that was doing more business than ever before until she hit a growth halt.
She was stuck doing the same repetitive work over and over again every single day.
Her process of onboarding new clients and pinpointing their needs was manual and consuming important time.
It was clear why she was having difficulty increasing the number of clients to reach a new level in her business. The process of gathering information from her form was tedious, error-prone, and time-consuming for her team.
They would copy and paste data manually from one sheet to another and input data by hand. With a lot of formulas on the sheet already, it was a disaster in progress.
This type of sheet is almost unchangeable when scaling into a new structure.
After a quick consultation call with Emily, we instantly identified a lot of room for improvement. We highlighted a list of inefficiencies in her processes and highlighted all potential solutions.
We managed to automate 80% of her process, allowing Emily to process new leads with a few clicks.
Not only was our solution 5X faster but was also robust, error-free, and future-proof. The accuracy ensures everything is stress-free and time efficient.
This simple improvement has helped Emily focus on what is actually important for her business, and she now processes more leads than ever before.
She has since expanded her team making a leap in her business goals.
What Next?
As you can see, there are many benefits to hiring an Excel consultant.
It saves you lots of time, money and stress.
You get a better, more robust product that is optimised for efficiency and speed, while repetitive tasks are removed from your to-do list.
Is the next logical move for you to approach an Excel consultant for help?
ACTION ITEM: Before we close out this post I want to give you one little action item! Comment below with ONE thing you learned from this post and how you're going to put it into ACTION.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
About the author
Giuseppe Giambalvo
Giuseppe loves all things Excel, constructing efficient spreadsheets with automated processes using VBA (the code behind Excel). His journey started in 2015 when he applied his curiosity in football and probability to build an automated model to predict football scores.
Based in London, UK, he works as an Excel consultant at Excel and Master with a focus on building and integrating custom systems into existing business processes for his clients.
If you would like Giuseppe to tailor a custom solution for your specific needs, feel free to get in touch.
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