What are spreadsheets costing you?

How hidden inefficiencies slow your firm’s growth, delay deals, and stall service delivery

Spreadsheets used to stand for efficiency. They offered familiarity, flexibility, and control — the comfort of knowing everything was just a formula away. But today, those same spreadsheets that once powered productivity are a source of friction.

Today’s accounting and advisory firms operate in a different reality. Data moves faster. Teams are distributed. Clients expect more transparency and responsiveness than ever before. In this environment, spreadsheets are showing their age.

This shift matters. Spreadsheet-driven workflows limit visibility, slow decision-making, and ultimately restrict your firm’s ability to grow.

The spreadsheet illusion: Familiar, but costly

Teams use spreadsheets to track engagements and deals, manage client relationships, and bridge gaps between systems, creating a firmwide dependency. It seems harmless — until version control issues, broken links, and conflicting data start to surface.

Teams often lose hours every month chasing the latest files. They miss critical insights because information isn’t up to date. Opportunities slip through the cracks as your professionals work with their own versions of the truth.

Eighty-one percent of IT leaders report that data silos slow digital transformation efforts — and for professional services firms, these silos often start in disconnected spreadsheets containing valuable client, deal, and relationship data.

What feels familiar comes at a cost: limited visibility, unpredictable reporting, and missed opportunities.

The ripple effect: When silos multiply

A single spreadsheet problem rarely stays contained. What begins as one professional’s personal tracking sheet becomes a template that’s shared and copied across teams — so eventually, multiple teams and partners are working from entirely different versions. Teams operate in silos, unaware of overlapping relationships or shared opportunities.

This fragmentation affects more than reporting. It also affects client trust and internal confidence.

When information is scattered, collaboration suffers. And when professionals aren’t confident in the data, they hesitate to act on it, and decision-making slows down.

Scattered data also means that teams don’t have visibility into dropped deals. And that they struggle to win and delight clients without burning out.

Modern firms are breaking the cycle

Firms across the industry are rethinking how they manage growth, relationships, and deals. They’re replacing manual tracking with modern deal management platforms that surface insights in real time.

Technology purpose-built for accounting firms provides a unified view of clients, pipelines, and relationships. It also makes collaboration effortless, reduces administrative work, and gives professionals confidence that the information they’re using is accurate and complete.

The shift away from spreadsheets isn’t about adopting new tools; it’s about reclaiming time, clarity, and opportunity.