Over 1.2 billion people use Excel and spreadsheets remain crucial to many businesses. Many professionals use Excel daily but companies also outsource Excel & VBA programming services to different types of Excel Experts.
Here are 5 types of Excel Experts:
Analytics Consultancies
Marketplace freelancers
Excel teachers & influencers
Office Spreadsheet "Gurus"
Internal Software Development teams
Let's see how each group can provide support with your Excel projects or address different spreadsheet challenges.
Analytics Consultancies
Companies providing data analytics & business intelligence services can define their coverage by industry or the solution type. Excel Consultancies focus on creating, expanding and repairing spreadsheet systems such as dashboards, models or tools.
Consultancies specialised in Excel often combine it with different types of tools and services. For instance, on top of spreadsheets, our company Senacea provides VBA automation, process improvement & Power BI transition services.
We also often use Excel in combination with Google Sheets, MS Access, online databases which require SQL programming and many industry-related tools. Depending on the type of work we may deploy statistical programmes, integrate workbooks with accounting software extracts or automate PowerPoint deck generation.
Consulting Companies will often have the advantage of specialisation and the ability to provide long-lasting and error-free systems. If your challenge relates to a spreadsheet system, they would be the best suited to solve such a problem.
Try challenging them to approach it from the point of view of business efficiency. Instead of just getting an Excel file, strive to receive a comprehensive solution that would include user-friendly spreadsheet design, user training, documentation or procedure manuals and a warranty or support period.
Marketplace freelancers
There are many platforms providing access to freelancers which you can hire for a couple of hours or for a project. Excel, VBA and different types of analytical services make up to a small fraction of their coverage. As such, they just act as an intermediary running a global marketplace.
A natural consequence of that is intense pricing and marketing competition between freelancers. It may benefit the buyers of certain simple or standardised services but can also create a rise to the bottom in more sophisticated areas which need bespoke solutions.
Short and simple tasks like data entry can be successfully outsourced on such platforms. Anything more difficult or long-lasting may be problematic. Bespoke projects would often not match any of the standardised freelancer listings and you would have to contact multiple vendors.
Many of them may offer any type of service without being legally bound to deliver. You would rarely get to know more than the freelancer's first name, not to mention whether they have registered their business and how they will handle your confidential data.
Excel Teachers & Influencers
Excel is a mainstream tool and there are many Excel teachers on Youtube, Coursera and LinkedIn. Some of them have their own blogs, others host podcasts and some teach in the classrooms. Every person interested in improving spreadsheet skills can learn with a virtual spreadsheet expert of their choosing.
Some of them would focus on isolated technical solutions like a combination of INDEX & MATCH formulas or adding computational fields to pivot tables. Other concentrate on practical applications like creating a KPI dashboard for a sales team. And some even wear funny hats while teaching. :)
Most of them provide great value when you want to expand your own skills, especially if you are a college student or a fresh graduate. Some of them offer spreadsheet design services but most of the time they wouldn't have time to execute the work themselves, being busy with teaching or producing educational content.
Office Spreadsheet "Gurus"
It's common to have this one person at the office who is an Excel Wizard or just a tech-savvy colleague who would save most of your IT troubles. They may often either have a software development background or have worked on specific technical solutions you are using.
If they can solve it in five minutes - do bother them, they will be happy to help. If it's a whole project on top of their regular work, they would probably tell you how busy they are.
Internal Software Development teams
Many companies employ in-house VBA developers to facilitate a large team of analysts with their reporting or modelling work. Such teams work often be familiar with how the roles within the company are scoped and the internal requirements for Excel automation tools.
Unfortunately, not many companies use Excel in a way that would justify hiring a team of full-time VBA Developers and organising their work efficiently. Mainly large multinational companies can form Reporting Automation Centres.
Which Excel Experts should you choose?
If you have a dedicated team of Excel & VBA at your office, refer to them for help. If not but your problem is very short - ask your skilled colleague whom you consider Excel Expert or watch a short tutorial online. Then, if it's laborious but very easy - consider outsourcing or automating it. For all important and complex Excel projects hire Excel Experts who provide complete and optimal business solutions.