Excel - Compliant or not compliant?
A programme published by Microsoft in 1985 still forms the basis of the structure of most legal and compliance departments in large companies. There’s no denying that It is a very powerful tool that combines calculations, formatting and overview in one canvas.
But is a tool that was released almost 40 years ago still the best available around? Since the internet revolution, don’t we have new programmes that can connect directly to the internet and pull data directly into it?
According to a survey conducted by Cygnetise to find if people in compliance believe that Excel gives them the security they need, more than half of the respondents answered “no”. 28% of them didn’t even know there was an alternative.
Tracking changes & lack of review
With Excel, it is currently difficult to keep track of changes easily. Staff have to save multiple versions of the same file to keep track. However, this results in a semi-organised chaos and a lot of time being wasted trying to find the right documents and always duplicating and re-saving them.
This chaos, in turn, makes it difficult to meet the transparency requirements of regulators.
Access control
Excel was not developed to function as a large database on the one hand, nor be able to collaborate with a team on the other. It is also extremely difficult to see who last edited a file or what was changed.
In addition, the lack of a personal sharing function means that a document can easily fall into the wrong hands.
Security concerns
Also in relation to the concerns above, Excel files can easily be circulated outside the organization by being sent by email.
Since Excel files are in most cases stored on the local hard drive, they are not protected from cyber threats, but can instead be easily accessed or rendered unusable by ransomware.
Inefficiency
A frequently changing Excel requires a lot of time and patience to maintain and to fill out. Employees spend hours, and in most cases days, on it. A digital tool that can automate specific workflows gives colleagues the opportunity to work on other priorities. The time saved can then be used for even better planning.
Then, when FINMA comes knocking at the door, you need to have all the documents ready. With digital tools, such as LARI, you don’t have to do any of that, except log in.
Summary
To sum it up: Excel is undisputedly one of the most powerful tools there is. However, in various sectors, including finance, Excel is no longer the best tool available. Many use cases have demonstrated this in recent years.
We at LARI have made it our task to create a solution that solves exactly these problems. In addition, we have a source collection that displays all of your sources on our platform.
Make the transition, we’ll support you, contact us!