Let’s be honest — we’ve all used Excel for more than it was ever designed for. Rosters, project tracking, budgeting, asset registers, timesheets, incident reports, inspections… the list goes on.

And why not? It’s flexible, familiar, and already on most computers.

But while Excel is great for quick fixes, it starts to crack under pressure when you’re relying on it to run your operations.

The Excel Trap

Spreadsheets are like duct tape — incredibly handy, but not a long-term structural solution.

Here’s where Excel starts to fall short:

• No user controls: Anyone can edit anything, formulas can get accidentally wiped, and there’s no way to track who did what.
  
  
• No automation: Everything’s manual — data entry, formatting, reporting, chasing people to update their bit.
  
  
• Hard to scale: What works for one user on one laptop quickly becomes chaotic when 10 people are using 12 different versions of the same file.
  
  
• Zero integration: It doesn’t talk to your other systems. You’re stuck copying and pasting between platforms.
  
  

Version What?

One of the biggest productivity killers with Excel is version control — or more accurately, the lack of it.

We’ve all seen it:

• report_final_FINAL_v3_updated.xlsx
  
• “Oops, I didn’t get the latest version.”
  
• “Someone opened it while someone else was editing it — and now the data’s gone weird.”
  
  

When multiple people are working from different copies of the same spreadsheet, it’s a recipe for confusion, duplication, and errors.

And if a file gets corrupted or lost? Unless you’ve got a backup system (most don’t), that’s hours — or days — of work down the drain.

It’s not just annoying. It’s a genuine risk.

What Custom Software Does Differently

At HutSix, we build systems designed specifically for the job at hand — and the people doing the work.

Here’s what you get with custom software:

• Tailored workflows: Built to reflect your real processes — not shoehorned into a spreadsheet format.
  
  
• Role-based access: Everyone sees just what they need to, and changes are traceable.
  
  
• Automation: From reports to notifications, the system handles the admin so you don’t have to.
  
  
• Real-time data: Always up to date, always available — no version control nightmares.
  
  
• Visual reporting: Dashboards, graphs, even maps — all at the click of a button.
  
  
• System integration: We can hook into your existing platforms (finance, HR, compliance, you name it) to reduce double-handling and improve accuracy.
  
  

When It’s Time to Level Up

If you’re spending more time fixing spreadsheets than doing your actual work, it might be time to upgrade. We’re not here to bash Excel — it’s a brilliant tool in the right context. But when your work is growing, your team is expanding, or your processes are getting more complex, custom software can save serious time, reduce risk, and make things a whole lot easier.

We’ve helped teams move from duct-taped spreadsheets to clean, purpose-built systems — and the feedback is always the same:

“Why didn’t we do this sooner?”



Ready to retire the spreadsheet? Let’s chat about a better way to get things done.