By Hiran de Silva
Let’s be clear from the outset: this is not a polite industry nudge. This is a direct, evidence-based challenge to a narrative that has gone unopposed for too long — one that misleads businesses and sells them short.
For decades, the technology industry — and more recently the FP&A tools market — has made one central accusation against Excel: that it isn’t scalable. On the back of this claim, an entire wave of cloud-based tools has emerged, claiming to “fix” what Excel supposedly cannot do. And the business world — under constant pressure to modernize — has bought in. Literally.
But here’s the punchline: their core selling point, their fundamental value proposition — global, live, distributed budgeting and consolidation — has been possible with Excel for over 30 years. What’s more, it can now be done better, more transparently, and more flexibly using native Excel with hub-and-spoke architecture.
And that’s not opinion. It’s provable.
Painting in a One-Centimetre Box
Today’s Excel discourse is dominated by influencers painting diligently inside one-centimetre boxes. They obsess over formatting, sparkly tools, new functions — and yet remain confined within the idea that Excel is a local tool for local work. Their view is shaped by what junior staff do, not what the enterprise needs.
Meanwhile, a step back — especially from the view of a CFO or CIO — reveals that the goal isn’t to paint individual boxes. The goal is to paint the entire wall. And for that, you don’t need a new brush. You need a spray gun.
Excel has that spray gun. Most people have just never been shown how to use it.
The Weaponization of “Scalability”
Every FP&A vendor claims Excel can’t scale. Look at their white papers, LinkedIn posts, and conference panels. They’ll say Excel can’t consolidate inputs from across a business without breaking into a thousand fragile links. That it lacks audit trails, global accessibility, version control, or security.
They are right — if you’re using Excel like it’s a spreadsheet in 1982.
The Excel most people know (and that FP&A vendors point to) still links 400 templates with brittle formulas spread across network drives. Yes, that version fails. Yes, it’s a nightmare to troubleshoot. And yes, it’s still disturbingly common.
But that is not what Excel is capable of.
The Real Architecture Behind FP&A Tools
Modern FP&A tools win the scalability argument because their architecture is sound. When a user enters data in London or Jakarta, it updates directly in a centralized database. A query using Structured Query Language (SQL) then pulls in real-time consolidated figures instantly. No fragile links. No manual refresh.
It’s elegant. It’s efficient. It’s smart.
But here’s the twist: Microsoft built the foundations for this exact architecture into Excel in the 1990s — well before the term “cloud” even entered business vocabulary. The same client-server (or “hub-and-spoke”) model is natively achievable in Excel, and Microsoft Office as a whole, using ADO, SQL, and relational databases such as Access or SQL Server.
In other words: the very method the cloud vendors tout as revolutionary is already built into the tools you own.
Proof of Concept: Demonstrated, Not Claimed
I’ve demonstrated this live. A “Hello World” example. Budget data inputted from a spreadsheet anywhere in the world. Instantly consolidated with one query. No broken links. Full transparency. Zero vendor lock-in.
And because it’s Excel, it’s yours. You can see under the hood. You can redesign it. You can extend it. You’re not stuck with a “one-size-fits-all” black box.
Agility: The Silent Superpower
Scalability isn’t just about volume or geographic reach — it’s also about agility. And this is where Excel absolutely outclasses proprietary systems.
With hub-and-spoke Excel:
- You can add a new level to your group map today.
- You can create a review model tomorrow.
- You can insert real-time audit trails, version histories, and full drill-down traceability — without a support ticket or a six-month “feature request.”
Try asking Anaplan or Adaptive Planning to do that, and you’ll be told: “That’s not supported.” Or: “You can raise a ticket — but we can’t guarantee if or when it’ll be delivered.”
You’ll also be told to keep using Excel… to prepare your data. Or to export reports. So much for replacing it.
So, Let’s Ask the Real Question
If Excel can:
- Do everything FP&A tools say it can’t do…
- Do it with more flexibility…
- Do it with full transparency…
- Do it with tools most businesses already own…
…then why are businesses still being told it can’t?
Why is the myth of Excel’s supposed limitations still propping up an industry built on its failings — when those failings are no longer true?
This Is a Virtual Debate — Because the Real Ones Won’t Show Up
I’ve invited these vendors to debate — live. No gimmicks. Just facts. But they decline. So we must do it virtually.
We will quote their white papers. Their social media sales pitches. Their product documentation. And contrast them with a live, working, superior Excel-based system — built in 15 minutes, scalable to the globe, and changeable by you.
This is not a theory. It’s a working system.
So here’s the challenge to the FP&A industry:
Stop hiding behind outdated Excel practices you know are obsolete. Start addressing what Excel is actually capable of when implemented professionally.
And to the business leaders:
Before you invest hundreds of thousands in external platforms that will lock you into rigid workflows and ongoing costs… ask your Excel team what they can do with a spray gun instead of a brush.
You may be shocked at how far ahead Excel already is.
The Bottom Line
Excel is not broken. The narrative is.
The real scandal is not Excel’s limitations — but that its true capabilities have been hidden in plain sight.
We’ve rebuilt the wall with better paint, better reach, and better control.
And we’ve done it with the same architecture the FP&A industry says you can’t use.
Only we did it better.
And now the question is yours to answer:
Will you keep buying the myth — or will you try the spray gun?
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