A podcast by Hiran de Silva. Read by Bill.
The comment by Ray Salvador on Ed Cruz’s post got me thinking: Why is there still surprise when someone presents a solution like a Hub-and-Spoke architecture to a spreadsheet problem? I mean, this is not some fringe concept–it’s fundamental to collaborative digital working environments and has been so for decades. Yet, the response I often encounter when discussing these principles is surprise, as if they’re hearing it for the first time. Why?
This phenomenon exposes a much deeper issue within the spreadsheet and Excel communities: the reluctance or ignorance toward core digital concepts that are ubiquitous in digital technologies, business environments, and our fundamental way of life today. The Hub-and-Spoke architecture isn’t some new, radical or alien idea–it’s the default standard for collaborative work, and it’s been that way since the 90s. Think ERP, the Cloud, and the all the efficiencies of digital technologies we take for granted.
The Birth of Collaborative Digital Work: Client-Server Architecture.
Back in 1993, Satya Nadella demonstrated Microsoft Office’s capabilities in supporting client-server architecture during a live event, “Microsoft DevCast.” The demo showed Excel working with popular relational databases of the day like IBM’s AS/400, and this concept was groundbreaking. By 1997, I had stumbled upon the power of this architecture myself, and it created massive efficiency and innovation in the businesses I worked with. This is by leveraging an Access database to work in synergy with the Excel spreadsheets. Famously, my client tripled my pay.
This is a crucial breakthrough–Excel and databases working in synergy–but despite its 30-year history, it’s still met with surprise in some corners of the Excel community, and resistance from others, inexplicably.
The Spreadsheet vs. IT Dichotomy: A False Narrative.
There’s an attitude that if you introduce these collaborative principles into spreadsheet work, you’re suddenly not a “spreadsheet person” but an “IT person.” This creates a rigid divide between Excel professionals and IT or relational database experts, where embracing database concepts somehow disqualifies you from being part of the Excel world. That’s nonsense. The distinction between “spreadsheet people” and “IT people” is entirely artificial. In fact, I constantly prove in my online demonstrations that Microsoft Office, including Excel, has supported and thrived on seamless relational database integration since Office 4.2. So, why are we still perpetuating this false separation?
The Genius of Simplicity: My Case Study with QCA Audit.
One of the most impactful solutions I worked on involved setting up a simple but highly effective system for reconciling examiner fees and expenses in the school exam sector using an Access database on a shared drive. The database simply located the data centrally, rather than embedded within the workbooks. It’s a classic example of how the Hub-and-Spoke architecture, as introduced by Ed, can streamline work processes without adding complexity for the users.
Here’s the kicker: in this system, two key individuals–Nicola and David–continue to do their jobs as usual. However, they no longer need to manually duplicate or exchange files. Nicola simply clicks a button, and her updates go directly into the database. David, who also simply clicks a button, instead of inputting the same information, just verifies it and generates a journal to input the transactions into the accounting system. It’s seamless, efficient, and removes unnecessary redundancy.
The reason this works so well is because we centralized the data into a shared location, and the very piece of technology designed for that purpose – a relational database. No more passing spreadsheets back and forth–this is pure collaborative architecture in action.
Why the Spreadsheet World is Stuck: Paper Flow vs. Data Flow.
One reason for the resistance could be the legacy mindset of “paper flow”, and the less known “data flow.” In the early days of desktop computing, sending spreadsheets to share data was the norm. However, by the late 90s, this paradigm was replaced by direct data flow between applications, and later, further extended by the cloud.
Yet, for some reason, many in the Excel world are still operating with a paper-flow mentality: treating the spreadsheet itself as the data rather than as a tool for interacting with the data. This is why ideas like centralizing data in a Hub-and-Spoke model seem foreign to some.
The Role of Social Media: Amplifying Ignorance.
Some social media influencers in the Excel world, often focused on popular and flashy single-user techniques, reinforce this outdated mentality. These influencers don’t talk about Hub-and-Spoke architectures or client-server models because their content is driven by social media trends–not by what’s actually useful in large-scale, enterprise environments. Their audience, in turn, misses out on understanding these fundamental principles because they are not trendy topics that get likes or shares.
What’s worse is that when these principles are introduced, the reaction is often resistance. The social media influencer ecosystem has built their authority on techniques that are actually outdated or unscalable for enterprise use. Any one of my real-life case studies proves that. They’re like the Vatican in the Middle Ages, rejecting new scientific ideas simply because they challenge the established doctrine.
Moving Forward: Don’t Fight Excel, Champion It.
Instead of pushing back against the Excel community, I’ve realized that the better approach is to champion professional, scalable Excel solutions that integrate advanced concepts like Hub-and-Spoke architectures. But hey, I wonder, is it really advanced? By doing so, I’m trying to align myself with the broader Excel ecosystem while subtly educating people about these transformative ideas that have stood the test of time.
The industry already acknowledges the massive problems caused by poor spreadsheet practices–$100 billion has been built on the idea of “Excel Hell,” as documented in various whitepapers of the ‘Excel Bashing’ industry. So, by positioning myself as the one who provides solutions to these well-known problems, I can avoid being seen as subversive, but as an IT-knowledgeable evangelist in the Excel space. This is championing Excel by showing how it can be used correctly at scale.
Conclusion: The Spreadsheet Revolution Isn’t New–It’s Just Forgotten.
The principles that make spreadsheets work efficiently in an enterprise setting aren’t new, but they’ve been forgotten or ignored by a large part of the community. As someone who has exploited these techniques for years to create business efficiencies and generate significant financial results for clients, I can say confidently that this approach–collaborative, database-integrated spreadsheet work–is not a niche IT practice. It’s the way forward for any Excel expert who wants to move beyond the single-user mentality and into enterprise-grade consulting.
And for those who still find this surprising, I ask: why? Why should a principle that’s been fundamental to digital collaboration for 30 years, and is how everything works today, be seen as revolutionary? It’s time we stopped treating basic architecture like client-server or Hub-and-Spoke as “IT” concepts – meaning ‘foreign concepts’ – and recognized them for what they are–standard tools in the Professional Excel toolkit.
And thank you Ed for championing this education and Excel capability.
You’ve been listening to a podcast by Hiran de Silva. Read by Bill.
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