Excel Still Central

One of the top executives of a very well known, very successful and technologically advanced company keeps a small, elite group of Excel Pros under his direct control and, as specific information is needed, shouts his requirements to them and they scurry off to tackle the task.

• It is estimated that Excel still drives more than 90% of all corporate decisions.
• Financial Managers and Analysts are very adept and comfortable using Excel. It is there "go to" tool for crunching data and producing reports.
• Most of the work these managers and analysts do to obtain raw data is done "outside" the general confines of formal corporate IT and, truth be told, these folks don't want the "interference" of corporate IT.
• As well, these managers and analysts spend MOST of their time sourcing and processing data. Little time remains to actually analyze the data! Frequently, the ink is still wet on reports as they are rushed to top management for decision making meetings.
• "Self Service BI" is the latest industry invention aimed at addressing these issues.