For over 30 years, Excel and VBA have powered some of the most widely used and adaptable business tools in the world. Yet, despite their longevity and proven value, the prevailing narrative—especially on social media and influencer platforms—paints them as outdated, soon to be replaced by buzzier technologies like Office Scripts, Power Automate, Power Query, and Lambdas.
But that narrative misses a crucial distinction.
The Real-World Record Is Clear
If you step outside the theoretical sandbox of social media debates and look at actual enterprise outcomes, a different story emerges. Consider this: Hiran de Silva implemented a VBA-driven Excel solution—based on Excel 97, no less—that allowed his client to automate a critical reconciliation process during a lunch break. The result? The client tripled his pay. And not long after, it multiplied again—eventually reaching 7.5 times the original salary.
This wasn’t achieved with Power Automate. Not with Lambdas. Not with Office Scripts. It was done with:
Excel + VBA + Hiran.
Why “Excel + VBA” Alone Isn’t Enough
There’s no denying the power of Excel combined with VBA. But the problem is how it’s understood. Many training courses—including widely consumed ones on LinkedIn Learning—teach VBA from a flawed starting point. For instance, teaching macro recording as a foundation creates confusion. People begin with misconceptions that are hard to unlearn.
So while Excel + VBA has potential, when taught poorly or applied narrowly, it can become messy—creating problems where there were none.
This is why the secret isn’t just Excel + VBA. It’s Excel + VBA + Hiran.
What Hiran brings to the table isn’t just technical expertise. It’s architectural thinking—an enterprise mindset. A way of seeing Excel not as a toy, or a tool to be retired, but as a client in a client-server model. A part of a distributed, automated, scalable business solution.
Benchmark It. Challenge It. Replicate It.
We challenge anyone to benchmark this approach. Take Paul Barnhurst’s assertion that VBA is dying and being replaced. Then contrast it with live demonstrations like the “Reg Call Handler” solution, which shows exactly where VBA still delivers—and where the newer tools don’t. Not because they’re bad, but because they’re solving different problems, often with far more complexity and overhead.
With “Excel + VBA + Hiran,” 80% of candidates with no prior programming experience were able to grasp the key concepts in under an hour and start building solutions. This isn’t advanced theory—it’s practical power. Accessible. Actionable. Scalable.
From Low-Hanging Fruit to Global Impact
Enterprise systems are full of low-hanging fruit: redundant reconciliation tasks, manual reporting loops, repetitive administrative processes. And yet most businesses don’t have a scalable, efficient way to automate these quickly.
Enter Excel + VBA + Hiran. Not only does it handle such tasks, but it also scales them—enterprise-wide, even globally.
To demonstrate this scalability, Hiran has constructed challenges like:
- The Eurovision Challenge – a contrived but effective scenario that simulates international coordination.
- The Global Excel Airbus Challenge – illustrating cloud leverage and global collaboration.
- The Employee of the Week Challenge – transforming a cosmetic Excel trick into a real enterprise-level system.
These challenges reveal what others miss: that the difference isn’t in the syntax, but in the architecture. In the design. In the understanding of what enterprise Excel can be when approached correctly.
Excel + VBA + Hiran: A Branding and a Movement
So let’s be clear. When people say “Excel + VBA is obsolete,” they’re talking about the version of Excel + VBA that’s taught with macros and old-school thinking. They’re not talking about the enterprise-aligned, globally-scalable, cloud-leveraged version that Hiran deploys.
That version is Excel + VBA + HIRAN.
And that last component—HIRAN, in all caps—is not just a name. It’s a methodology. A mindset. A way of thinking that enables results nobody else is achieving with Excel, VBA, or any of the so-called “modern replacements.”
So the next time someone tells you Excel is dead, or VBA is obsolete, ask them this:
“Have you tried Excel + VBA + Hiran?”
Because once you do, you won’t look back.
Add comment