By Hiran de Silva
People sometimes ask: “If the Digital Librarian is such a game-changer, why hasn’t anyone thought about it before?”
The answer is: they have. For over three decades the principle has been sitting at the very core of digital business. But like all powerful ideas, it has been hidden in plain sight.
At its heart, the Digital Librarian is simply a modern name for something that revolutionised business in the late 1980s and 1990s: client–server architecture—or more clearly, the hub-and-spoke model.
From ERP to Everyday Business
Until the late 1980s, data was typically locked inside individual applications. Each department lived in its own silo: finance, HR, logistics, sales. Then came the breakthrough—centralising the data while allowing applications to connect to it freely.
That shift gave us ERP. Enterprise Resource Planning promised a new era where processes could flow across the organisation, unblocked by silos. Productivity leapt. The architecture itself was sound, but the commercial packaging that surrounded ERP obscured the core principle.
Big IT companies branded ERP as their proprietary offering. Openness, interoperability, and the universality of the client–server idea were downplayed. Over time, “ERP” became shorthand for any enterprise system, and the architectural principle behind it was forgotten.
Microsoft Office: More Than Four Icons in a Box
When Microsoft Office arrived, most people saw just a bundle of familiar applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint. But buried in that package was Access—the intended “hub” in a hub-and-spoke model. Excel, Word, and PowerPoint could all connect to Access, enabling cross-organisational solutions at a fraction of ERP’s cost.
Professionals who worked close to the business (rather than deep inside IT) understood this. I did. We built client-server solutions with Excel and Access that solved “Excel Hell” problems without waiting months for IT approval. It wasn’t rogue behaviour—it was simply using the tools properly.
This quiet empowerment of professionals was one of the most exciting dynamics in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Shift to Novice Audiences
Around 20 years ago, something changed. Computing became mass-market, and Microsoft’s marketing shifted with it. The target audience was no longer professionals working with enterprise problems, but casual users.
Excel began to evolve toward “features for the many” rather than “frameworks for the few.” The result: the hub-and-spoke mindset was never explained to the new generation. Instead, they were offered shortcuts: wizards, ribbons, low-code demos.
The rise of the Power Platform is the logical conclusion of this trend. Marketed as “no code, low code,” it looks like empowerment—but in reality, the power still sits with IT. The department can switch features on or off at will. And while the platform dazzles in a demo, real-world business solutions often collapse under the weight of complexity and hidden cost.
The Forgotten Empowerment
Contrast this with the empowerment of the Excel professional armed with Access, SQL, and a framework like the Digital Librarian. Here, the business analyst can build, iterate, and deliver without asking IT’s permission. They can solve budgeting nightmares, streamline reporting, or automate consolidation at scale.
This is why I sometimes say the Power Platform is cosmetic empowerment—whereas the Digital Librarian represents real empowerment.
Why Don’t We Know About It?
So why is 2025 still full of people who have never heard of the Digital Librarian?
- Because ERP vendors turned a principle into a brand.
- Because Microsoft’s marketing pivoted to novice audiences.
- Because social media now amplifies influencers who sell features, not frameworks.
The result: two worlds of Excel.
- The echo chamber of social media, where the audience is taught tricks and cosmetics.
- The real world of enterprise, where those who discover the Digital Librarian quietly triple their pay and transform organisations.
Looking Ahead
The question is whether the tide will turn. Will the future continue to be shaped by the promotability of “low-code cosmetics,” or will managers realise the massive value in the Digital Librarian approach?
History suggests that when a contrast this sharp exists—between million-dollar external systems and home-grown hub-and-spoke solutions—savvy leaders eventually exploit it. The only question is who gets there first.
That is why I am campaigning for the Digital Librarian. Not as a feature, not as a brand, but as a philosophical return to first principles.
👉 In future articles, I’ll show detailed case studies where these two approaches collide—novice low-code versus Digital Librarian. The outcomes speak for themselves.
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