Spreadsheets are the universal language of business, a great tool for... one-person analyses. They are not a professional system for group work or, horror of horrors, business management. The use of spreadsheets has already cost many companies millions...
If you are a sole proprietorship…
...you can choose not to read further. If you work with spreadsheets on a daily basis, you certainly know their advantages and many possibilities. However… their functionalities and usefulness are limited more than you might think. First of all, they are not a tool for stable and completely safe work for more than one person. Unfortunately, few companies realize this until something bad happens. 
Risk-physicist
On the Internet you can find hundreds of stories of companies that lost large contracts, incurred exorbitant costs, or even went bankrupt because of a spreadsheet error. One incorrectly entered number or incorrect formula can cause a domino effect in your file and, despite dozens of pairs of eyes, it will not be caught. Unfortunately, the most serious disadvantage of the sheets is the lack of security. Firstly, it does not completely protect the company against human mistakes (sometimes unconscious, resulting from haste or carelessness, and sometimes made deliberately). Two, it is unstable, which makes it prone to crashing. Data loss due to scratching is not an uncommon phenomenon. Sheets are not suitable for team work, although that is how they are most often used. Files sent to many people by e-mail and then compiled again are a breeding ground for mistakes. How many times do you have to look for the latest version, copy data, change it and make sure that the correct version reaches the Management Board or the client. It's difficult to connect multiple data sources to spreadsheets, so most of the work has to be done manually. Such work is inefficient, does not allow you to control the file version, and aggregating and unifying data takes a lot of time. Because many people work on the files, it is impossible to find out who made the change. Nor who received and edited a given file. Sometimes files reach unauthorized persons. When working with spreadsheets, there is no systemic responsibility for calculations, plans or results. Without the ability to audit and control changes, the company is doomed to rely on not always reliable data, forecasts, etc. And it so happens that more than half of decisions are made based on spreadsheets! So although we feel that we are in control of the situation, that we collect and analyze data and that it is processed by qualified people, in fact our strategy is based on the risk-physicist approach. Even highly qualified people will not ensure the company's success without the support of the appropriate tool. The problem is not people, but the tool.
And how does it end?
Preparing offers, managing sales or planning budgets in spreadsheets can have very serious consequences. Uncontrolled spreadsheet models create huge business risks, not only loss of revenues or assets, but in extreme cases fines and even imprisonment. Enterprises that want to effectively minimize the risk of financial or legal problems should ensure standardization of work with data, solid methods of inventory, documenting, creating backup copies, archiving, as well as comparing and controlling spreadsheets supporting critical corporate processes. Not to mention controlling access to data from inside and outside the company. However, this is not possible with standard sheets because they were not created for this purpose. Zero security, low efficiency and lack of control tools cause many companies to fall into serious trouble every year. There are so many of them that an organization was established to deal with the risks resulting from managing companies with models created in spreadsheets: The European Spreadsheet Risk Interest Group. EuSpRIG on its website describes interesting cases of companies in the section with a significant name Horror Stories (don't read before bed!). Are you sure your company can afford to use spreadsheets?
At the sources
There are many reasons why companies stick to spreadsheets, but two dominate. The first one usually concerns slightly smaller companies, where the spreadsheet is simply enough and, according to the company's managers, there is no need to invest in anything more. A good employee can handle the worksheet as well– say presidents and managers. Anything more than that is whimsy... Of course, behind this belief is the fear of change (of any kind), reluctance towards technology, and the fear that less competent people will not be able to handle such tools. And also the lack of knowledge of the technological market, and therefore the lack of understanding of solutions, which means that no one is willing to take responsibility for the purchase of any software. and Last but not least: costs. The software is simply expensive, costing even several dozen or several hundred thousand zlotys. It's not any better in large organizations. Such companies usually already have some kind of system in place. Well, even a few. Bought over 10 years ago, for a lot of money. Their implementation involved removing half of the IT team from their daily duties (for half a year according to assumptions, for a year in reality). And today it turns out that the system is inefficient... that it does not have many necessary functions, that it does not fit the changing nature of the company, and that it cannot be integrated with other systems. Introducing changes and adapting to new conditions will cost a lot and will take at least several months. In corporations, we also face reluctance to change and invest in IT infrastructure, as well as resistance to buying a damn system. This way, business (Accounting, Sales, HR, Administration, etc.) ends up in sheets (and sometimes even with paper!). Applications, statements, settlements, reports, and even plans, forecasts, and offers circulate through company mailboxes like a ticking bomb...
And that's why Qalcwise was created
The founders of Qalcwise wondered how to retain what people love about spreadsheets while still meeting the demands of the Enterprise class? So they kept the logic of spreadsheets but added much more advanced formulas. Then they added a workflow to the solution, allowing them to get things moving. They also designed their own calculation engine, which, together with the function of integration with any system, allows even advanced calculations to be performed on large amounts of data from many sources. And so a platform for building business applications was created, which successfully replaces not only spreadsheets, but also complements ERP, BPM and CRM systems. What's groundbreaking about Qalcwise is that it bypasses IT entirely. Unbelievable but true. The platform uses no-code technology, i.e. without programming. It allows people without technical skills, but who know the processes best, to build systems on their own. Employees use formulas such as those in spreadsheets and ready-made drag-and-drop elements. drag-and-drop). They can build from scratch themselves or configure a ready-made application without the help of developers. This way we avoid the problem: what if the process changes? You can change the application with just a few clicks. And because there are no rigid elements, everything is editable, you don't have to adapt to the system, you can transfer the process 1:1 (although most often, automation allows you to skip certain steps and simplify the process).
Qalcwise is a spreadsheet with a magic "get it done" button. Applications allow you to actually handle processes and perform repetitive tasks for humans
The secret ingredient
All right, an attentive and still skeptical reader will say, but what about those functions that I have in my sheets or that I don't have but need? How about usability and security, huh? We are in a hurry to answer! A Qalcwise user can create any document (form, application, survey, etc.), and then define its circulation in the company, give selected employees the rights to edit it and add comments or attachments, as well as make decisions (reject, accept, etc.). At the end, the document can be archived, exported to another system, etc. And because the platform operates in the cloud, it ensures stable operation without loss of performance even with thousands of users working simultaneously. Additionally, in an appropriately secured environment. No need to send e-mails, no risk of losing the correct version of the file, no paper, with full monitoring of the process. Additionally, with the option to set any control rules, limits, alerts, etc., which significantly minimizes the risk of mistakes and abuses. But that's not all. As the name of the platform suggests, calculationwise i.e. smart calculations), applications enable the implementation of tasks requiring calculations, in accordance with workflow. They can automate tasks from every area of the company, e.g.: calculations and generation of commercial offers, calculations of forecasts and budgets, settlement of partner commissions, bonuses and retro-discounts, calculation of inventory levels and notification of the need to replenish them. The applications perform instantaneous calculations, so they can monitor sales, budget utilization, costs, profits, conduct analyzes and generate reports on demand in real time. And this is secret sauce Qalcwise app, not available in any other solution in the world (as far as we know). Because Qalcwise allows you to automate absolutely any process, in any department, it enables central management of the organization. This means not only aggregation of all data in one place, but also consistency, integrity, transparency and full control over their processing. Where the possibilities of spreadsheets end, the area where agile business applications reign supreme begins. This technology is not only more trustworthy than spreadsheets, but also 70x faster to implement and 10x cheaper than traditional software. 
Don't understand everything yet? Black magic? You will learn about the no-code solution and how to create a simple application or even a serious business solution without using code here. You can also try our platform for free (no credit card required) and if you would like to find out whether our solutions will adapt to your company, we invite you to schedule a demo.
