Excel is not a competitor to our SaaS - it is an interface. Original our service was web and email only (energy market financial data). But we quickly learned our clients want and need that data in CSV so they can build their own tools. So our API integrates well with Excel.
And that is the power of Excel - a client can build their own solution, backed by our service. We do the parts that Excel can’t do or do well.
This frees us up from the pressure to build customization for any client - we won’t do customization only generalization.
We will create new features without any UI - just the API for JSON and CSV. This lowers our costs and development time - UI can be expensive and time consuming.
This is exactly how we use Excel where I work (a large multinational contact-center provider). Data is stored in SQL Server and then consumed in Excel in several ways:
- Direct query from Excel to SQL Server (This is fast, reliable but users need to know SQL)
- Cube pivot or formulas to SQL Server Analysis Services (Lower user skills needed, but depends on IT/Dev to setup correct measures and processes in Analysis Services)
- Using MS Access as an intermediary between Excel and SQL Server (Using MS Access in the middle is a great way to allow people that don't know SQL to build some simple joins. Comes at the cost of query performance though.)
- Using MS Power BI to connect to SQL Server data (this is in its early days at my company, but is proving to be a great solution for historical reports, where Excel usually shows its limitations)
And that is the power of Excel - a client can build their own solution, backed by our service. We do the parts that Excel can’t do or do well.
This frees us up from the pressure to build customization for any client - we won’t do customization only generalization.
We will create new features without any UI - just the API for JSON and CSV. This lowers our costs and development time - UI can be expensive and time consuming.