Excel is one of the most used tools by companies to manage data. It is even an essential choice to perform all types of tasks that meet organizational needs. And for good reason, many event professionals make Excel a natural choice to organize their events, their clients or to do their invoice.
It can be the ideal tool to perform data analysis or to create reporting tables. But when it comes to event management, and despite its advantages, this famous program is simply not enough anymore.
Why do event organizers use Excel?
It’s no surprise that most event organizers are still attached to Excel spreadsheets.
One of the first reasons to use Excel is the ease of access. Indeed, the tool is installed on almost all our offices, which does not require specific integration or additional costs unlike SaaS tools. Then, the tool offers multiple functionalities to manage its data and create tables of all kinds with the help of an interface that is easy to use and accessible to all users.
Excel can therefore, at first sight, prove to be the economical solution with a low learning cost. However, even though spreadsheets are very practical, they don’t have the same power as a tool specifically designed for event planning. It’s important to consider the many complications you may face when using Excel to manage your event data.
4 examples for which Excel has its limits in the event industry
It does not ensure the proper contact management
Managing your contacts in Excel can be convenient at first, as long as you’re not looking to connect with them. You will inevitably need to provide additional information, manage calls and appointments. In addition, manual entry makes the work long and tedious. You could spend hours updating client details on spreadsheets every day. The best way to make up for this lost time is to use a tool that centralizes client data and automates information entry.
Event CRM software such as Lab Event gives you access to multiple functionalities allowing a better follow-up and a greater customer satisfaction.
It does not allow you to manage your budget properly
Many event organizers are used to using Excel as their budget planner. For a simple budget, Excel is easy to use. But as the volume of data analyzed increases, you’ll find that this data can lead to spreadsheets full of errors. A bad click, overwriting data or even accidentally deleting a cell can lead to big problems. So even if the mistake is human, you should avoid them at all costs!
Budget planning software like Lab Event can help manage your company’s expenses. The software is designed to simplify and streamline the budgeting process and will save you a lot of time compared to Excel.
It is not designed to manage quote and invoices
In addition, there is a limit to collaborative work. Yet essential in the organization of an event project, Excel does not generally allow several people to work together with similar files. It is therefore essential to allow your teams to properly monitor the progress of a quote or invoice in order to allow them to act accordingly.
Thanks to its advanced features, Lab Event allows you to make your quotes and invoices while ensuring the security, control, reliability and accuracy of data.
It is not surprising that Excel is still used to edit quotes or invoices. A common practice that can lead to many problems. Without access to the right tools, the risk of errors is more important if you manually enter your quotes or invoices in Excel. In addition, the lack of control can compromise the accuracy of the data and generate errors that are generally difficult to detect and can affect your net result.
It is not adapted to manage a calendar
Creating calendars from Excel spreadsheets is possible, but is it really a good idea? Creating calendars from Excel spreadsheets is possible, but is it really a good idea?
Lab Event gives you the possibility to manage a calendar connected to all your events. This way, you will have a quick overview of the current and upcoming events on your calendar as well as those of your collaborators so you don’t miss anything. Unlike tools such as Excel, Lab Event’s calendar gives you a quick overview of your space availability.
It’s time to get rid of your spreadsheets and switch to a tool 100% dedicated to event management!
