Squaring the Circle: Why Excel Hell Persists—and What We Can Do About It

By Hiran de Silva

“Excel Hell” is a phrase many of us know all too well. Senior managers feel the pain most acutely, but even at the ground level, workers often sense the inefficiency bubbling beneath the surface. Spreadsheets that don’t reconcile. Reports that take days to produce. Fragile models that collapse under the slightest change.

This problem is not new. But what makes it striking today is the size of the industry that has grown up around it. An entire $100 billion marketplace of FP&A tools and ERP extensions thrives on the claim that Excel is unsuitable for enterprise work.

And yet—Excel remains everywhere.

So why do we continue to live with Excel Hell?

The Audience Divide

Mark Proctor made an important observation: most of the Excel influencer community is not addressing enterprise problems. Their audience is vast, but their aspiration is narrower. They create content for people who use spreadsheets daily but don’t yet carry management responsibility. This is not stupidity, nor is it deception—it is simply alignment of supply with demand.

Most workers want immediate, tactical solutions. They are not asking for enterprise strategy. And influencers deliver just that: bite-sized, screen-recorded tutorials.

The Limits of the Medium

Here lies the second factor: the medium shapes the message.

Short videos—five to ten minutes long—dominate social platforms. But screen-share tutorials can only demonstrate literal mechanics. A formula here. A pivot table there. What they cannot convey are the essentials of strategic thinking:

• Context – when a technique is useful and when it isn’t.
• Foresight – whether the design will stand up to growth and change.
• Critical thinking – why one approach scales while another breeds fragility.

A spreadsheet created without strategy will, sooner or later, contribute to Excel Hell.

A Status Quo That Feeds on Itself

So we arrive at a paradox.

• Influencers serve the needs of the many.
• The medium rewards short, literal demonstrations.
• Novices adopt practices that lead to fragility.
• Enterprises experience recurring Excel Hell.
• And a $100 billion “alternatives” industry grows stronger.

This is not really anybody’s fault. It is simply how incentives are currently aligned.

But is this inevitable?

Opportunity in the Gap

We could shrug and say “that’s just the way it is.” But should we?

Consider this: if Excel Hell is so pervasive that it justifies a $100 billion industry, then the opportunity to address it is hardly insignificant. In fact, it may be one of the largest opportunities in enterprise technology today.

The challenge is not to replace short-form education with more of the same, but to create a different layer of conversation:

• One that teaches architecture, not just techniques.
• One that speaks to enterprise outcomes, not just formulas.
• One that shows Excel as a tool of long-term stability, not short-term hacks.

This is a conversation worth having. Not just for those already in positions of responsibility, but for the next generation of Excel professionals who aspire to lead.

Because if we don’t change the conversation, Excel Hell will remain the rule rather than the exception.

So, let’s ask ourselves:

• Are we content with short-term fixes, or do we want sustainable systems?
• Are we resigned to Excel Hell, or do we see an opportunity to build Excel Done Well?
• And if an entire industry can be built on the pain of Excel Hell, what could be built on the alternative?