{"id":378,"date":"2016-01-25T11:08:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T11:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mrpeasy.com\/blog\/?p=378"},"modified":"2020-08-03T08:45:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T08:45:14","slug":"why-manufacturing-software-solutions-are-much-better-than-excel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrpeasy.com\/blog\/why-manufacturing-software-solutions-are-much-better-than-excel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why manufacturing software is better than Excel?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"manufacturing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With the rise of IT in our everyday lives comes the dependence on certain tools, to communicate, to assist and to help us with work.\u00a0 In the early days many companies \u2013 although slow to adopt \u2013 found a piece of software that worked for them, they invested in it and became reliant on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With the rise of IT in our personal\nand business lives comes the dependence on specific tools to communicate,\nassist, and, in some cases, to do our work. In the early days, many organizations\nwere slow to adopt these tools, and once they found software that worked for\nthem, they invested in it and became reliant on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was not any particular type of\nsoftware. Companies bought whatever was available back in the late nineties and\ninto the early days of the millennium. Since they were happy and comfortable\nwith their choice\u2014or at least thought they were\u2014they stayed with it. Unfortunately,\nthat turned out to be a costly mistake since that so-called comfortable setup\nhas been draining their time and resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By far, the most common culprit has\nbeen Excel. It became the go-to software for everything related to business\nmanagement, with many small to medium-sized (SME) manufacturers using it as\ntheir primary manufacturing software<\/a> solution. And while it\nmight have worked well twenty years ago, today other options perform much\nbetter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brief history of SMEs and software<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for the dependence on this\ngeneric piece of software for complex applications can be found in the earliest\nhistory of SMEs and software. In the seventies, SMEs were forced to use\nprograms such as Excel as their manufacturing software solutions simply because\nthey were priced out of the market for dedicated software. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only the largest enterprises could\nreach that deep into their pockets, for both the software itself and the exorbitant\nprices for installation and management. Add to that the extra cost of labor to run,\noversee, and maintain these systems meant that these specific solutions were\nsimply out of reach for most smaller companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developments in technology have\nenabled companies to take advantage of cloud-based services to overhaul their\nmanufacturing software solutions. The accessibility of the software through the\ncloud eliminates the need for expensive servers and the army of staff required\nto service them, giving these companies a decided advantage over their\ncompetitors still using Excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are still some management teams that are unable or unwilling to see past the mistaken notion that using Excel is a money-saving option. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Using Excel is costing them considerably more than a subscription to a cloud-based MRP solution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs that your business has outgrown the capabilities of Excel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many organizations work under the\nassumption that Excel is meeting their needs adequately, but the assumptions\nare usually wrong. Once they start analyzing whether or not their organization\nhas outgrown the capacities of Excel, it isn\u2019t long before they have an accurate\npicture and a different opinion. Here are some of the signs indicating that\nExcel is no longer meeting your company\u2019s needs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n