Excel digs into your debts, discover 6 key points to choose the right business management solution

Why do these construction SMEs still choose Excel?

Ease of access: Excel is a solution known to all. No need for time-consuming research or training to start running your business in a spreadsheet.

Flexibility : Excel is seen as a powerful and flexible tool. “I created my own software, with macros. These models work and this allows me to see the indicators necessary for the financial monitoring of my activity”.

The price : Excel is often perceived as free software, purchased with the Microsoft Office Pack. And yet...

The hidden cost of Excel: 3 debts created by construction SMEs

Using Excel to manage the activity of your SME has limits. The impact of its use within a growing company will create 3 major debts, making business continuity perilous.

Administrative debt

Opposing operations and management is a common mistake for an SME.

The legitimate priority is to find business, projects to carry out in order to develop. The first instinct is therefore to structure the “field” team to support the development of the order book while postponing the overhaul of the administrative organization. The impact is a time of entry and re-entry in the various Excel spreadsheets which inflate and which feed the mental load of the teams. They have the feeling of being “under water”.

It is therefore key to introduce a suitable and robust solution quickly, and whose handling is inexpensive, such as Graneet.

financial debt

It is interesting to start this part with an observation: in 3 years of activity at Graneet, we have not yet seen a company with at least one site billed on a progress basis in Excel, not including an error. The impact of these errors, for you as a construction SME, ranges from lengthening the collection period to a dead loss of cash.

In both cases, this creates tensions on the cash flow which can become fatal.

Strategic debt

Managing your company's activity in Excel is generally synonymous with macros and complex spreadsheets to feed and keep up to date. This lack of “real-time” visibility of the company's current activity does not facilitate long-term projection. Knowing how to target the right type of customers as well as the most profitable sites is the result of the fine analysis of projects in progress and those already closed.

In other words, navigating on sight with Excel today will negatively impact business profitability tomorrow.

How to break this vicious circle?

Each debt that grows fuels the next one. A weak administrative process gives a bad image. It is proof of a lack of professionalism and results in low recognition of the company's expertise. In a strong competitive context, this perceived lack of expertise can only be compensated by a lower price and therefore a lower margin, thus blurring the company's long-term vision.

Deploying commercial management software to support the activity of a growing company therefore appears to be one of the essential pillars for its success. The question then arises of choosing the solution that best suits your needs.

6 key points for choosing the right management software

ergonomics

The user-friendliness and ease of use of a management solution is a decisive point. A quick start is synonymous with reduced training costs and daily time savings, as well as the assurance of good team adherence to the new software.

Fonctionnalities

The adage “who can do the most, can do the least” does not fit well in the world of software. Choose software that includes the features you really need rather than a complex layer of features that you won't use, which will clutter your daily life and hinder your teams' handling.

Homelessness

Cloud-based software* is an asset. It allows you to use the application from any computer or tablet, no matter where you are. It also shifts ancillary costs: server and maintenance to the solution publisher. You pay for your software and nothing more!

*a cloud software is a solution accessible via a web browser and requiring only a simple internet connection.

The support department

Being able to benefit from dedicated customer service must be a reassuring element. Be vigilant about the hours of service and the average response time. If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to ask for the contact details of customers already using the solution. Their feedback is always rewarding.

The

Prefer the monthly subscription to the license purchase formula. So after a test period, you can opt out at a lower cost if the software does not meet your expectations.

The collaborative

The challenge of software is to facilitate the exchange of information between operations and management. Getting the different employee profiles to collaborate within the same platform is a guarantee of success. So choose management solutions with an unlimited number of users.