Signs Excel is no longer enough
One person typing, one person reading and a few hundred rows: Excel is fine. It stops working when many people and many channels pour data into one file. Common signs:
- One customer appears two or three times, each with a different spelling or phone number.
- Orders arrive by Zalo, Facebook and phone, get copied into the file at the end of the day, and never quite match.
- Several staff edit one file: one overwrites another and nobody knows who changed what.
- No permissions: any staff member who opens the file sees every customer and every number.
- Stock in the file differs from the real shelf, because some orders were never deducted.
- To learn which customer buys most or which order is unshipped, you filter and count by hand.
One or two signs do not mean you need software. The next section covers when to stay on Excel.
When to stay on Excel
If one person types, orders and customers are few, and the file has never made you mix up goods or lose an order, keep using Excel. Software is worth building only when the cost of mistakes and re-copying is greater than the cost of a new system. When you do not need it yet, we say so plainly.
- Only one person enters and reads the data.
- Orders and customers are few enough to take in at a glance.
- You have never double-sold, mixed up goods or lost an order because of the file.
- Staff or customers do not need to see part of the data themselves.
Two steps between Excel and custom software
You do not have to build custom software straight away. These two options are worth trying first because they take little effort.
- Tidy the Excel file: one sheet per kind of data (customers, orders, goods), one row per customer or order, drop-down lists for order status and sales channel, and the phone number as the customer ID so duplicates show at once.
- Use off-the-shelf software: it fits when your way of selling is like most shops. In return, you work the way the software works.
What to do when off-the-shelf software doesn't fit your process
Then a custom system makes sense: the software follows how your shop runs, instead of you following the software. A custom system has several account levels, stock and customer management, and links to the software you already use. A small shop that only needs customers, orders and purchase history in one place can use the management app in the Web App Bundle, which replaces notebooks and Excel.
| Approach | Fits when | Weak spot |
|---|---|---|
| Excel as it is | One person types, few orders. | Duplicate customers, overwrites, no permissions. |
| Tidied Excel | Still few people, you just want less mess. | Still typed by hand, no real permissions. |
| Off-the-shelf software | Your process is like most shops. | You follow the software; a missing feature is hard to add. |
| Custom system | Many people, many channels, your own process. | It has to be built; the process must be described well first. |
A sign to go custom: you bend how you sell to fit the software, or you still copy data between the software and Excel.
What moving from Excel to software involves
How fast the move goes depends on how clean the current file is, so we do not promise one number before seeing it. The steps usually look like this:
- List the current process: where orders come from, who enters them, who approves, when stock is deducted, who needs to see what.
- Pick the most painful job first, often gathering orders in one place or stopping duplicate customers.
- Clean the old data: merge duplicate customers, fix wrong phone numbers, remove stray rows.
- Bring the data over from Excel or paper into the new system. In the price calculator this is its own option: bring over old Excel or paper data.
- See the running version, try it with real orders, then adjust. Every Friday you see the running build, and we fix it until you are happy.
- Run both side by side for a short while before dropping the Excel file.
If the slowest job is typing figures from invoices or messages into the file, see AI and automation: AI can read an invoice or a message and fill in the system. Results depend on your real data, so raise it on the call.
What to prepare before the call
It does not need to be perfect. Having each item below is enough to start the free 30-minute call; afterwards we send a written quote within 2 working days.
- The Excel file you use now, or a photo of a few rows (remove sensitive details if you like).
- Which channels orders come from: Zalo, Facebook, phone, in person.
- Who enters data, who reads it, and who should have limited access.
- The three jobs that take the most time each day or go wrong most often.
- Other software you use: accounting, stock, sales.
- How many people will use it and how many branches, if any.
What to ask any software vendor
These six questions work with any vendor, us included:
- Who owns the source code and the data at handover?
- Does the written quote state the scope, the delivery date and what costs extra?
- Can the old Excel data be brought over, and who cleans it?
- Can it connect to the software I already use, and how?
- After launch, how are bugs fixed, and is monthly maintenance compulsory?
- Can I see the running version before I pay?
At 71.zone: source code, documentation and accounts are in your name at handover; bugs are fixed free for 30 days; monthly maintenance is quoted on request and you can stop any month; you see the running version before you pay.