Big data gets all the hype today, but enterprises around the globe continue to be run by big spreadsheets – spreadsheets with few controls, analytics or simple ways of testing, validating or detecting patterns

1. Data Analytics for Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation
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2. Big Data – Projected to Drive IT Growth
• Gartner Inc. projects that “big data” will
drive $232 Billion in IT spending – 2016
• Includes spending on
• Storage
• Business intelligence
• Database
• Middleware platforms
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3. Big Data – Top Sources Today?
• Machine-generated information
• Sensors, geo-enabled mobile devices
• User-generated information
• Social media, web transactions, social
networks, apps
• Have defined how we talk about
information and content management in
2012-13
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4. But…What About In-House Data?
• Externally generated data is often a shiny
object
• Pundits and vendors look at big data as
way to transform business, get better
insights into customer behavior and
buying patterns
• But what about internal patterns and data
sources? Often neglected.
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5. Spreadsheets: The Original User-
Generated Content
• Spreadsheets may be unglamorous, but
are the original user-generated content to
have a material impact on business
• Spreadsheets in mainstream use for
over 30 years
• Few organizations have applied data
analytics or mined the intelligence held
in spreadsheets
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6. Risks of Neglecting Data Held in
Spreadsheets
1. Risk of ignoring the information needed to
make consistent decisions
2. Risk of allowing errors and non-
compliance proliferate in the dark of
untested formulas, rows and columns
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7. Big Data May Get All the Hype Today…But
Business Are Run by Big Spreadsheets

8. Spreadsheets By the Numbers
• 99.7% of businesses use spreadsheets
• 70% of businesses have “heavy” reliance
on spreadsheets for critical business
activities
• Yet…only 42% of companies paid
attention to spreadsheets as part of risk
reporting and assessment
Source: (Deloitte 2009 Study)
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9. Spreadsheets By the Numbers
• Estimated 90 million computer users in the
US workplace…
• 60% - 55 million – will use spreadsheets
or simple databases for work
Source: Carnegie Mellon University
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10. Spreadsheets By the Numbers
• Spreadsheets have an average 5 year
lifespan
• Used by 13 different business analysts
• Financial analysts spend average 3 hours
a day in spreadsheets
Source: Delft University of Technology
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11. Spreadsheets By the Numbers
• Errors persist in most spreadsheets and
can be hidden sources of risk
• 2-5% of formulae are incorrect
• Consistent for both beginner and expert
users
• Up to 5% of errors can be material to
business operations and financial health
Source: Professor R. Panko
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12. How to Reduce the Risks?
• Recommendation #1:
• Understand where critical business data
is held – odds are it is in a spreadsheet
• Learn how it is being exported,
crunched, analyzed
• Inventory and apply information
management principles to essential
spreadsheets
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13. How to Reduce the Risks?
• Recommendation #2:
• Invest in analytic tools that can be
understood by typical business workers
• Seek out easy-to-use spreadsheet
governance tools that don’t require big
IT investment
• ActiveData for Excel may be the right
solution for your firm
•
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14. How to Reduce the Risks?
• Recommendation #3:
• Don’t pin hopes on big data alone for
improved productivity and operational
insights
• Do the analysis and quality assurance
on your existing “big spreadsheet” data
• Find historical context to supplement
new real-time understanding
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15. Read More on This Topic
• FierceContentManagement
• Article – Nov 5, 2012 “Never Mind Big
Data, We’re Still Coping with the Era of
Big Spreadsheets”
• InformationActive Network
• Blog Post – Oct 20, 2012 “Big Data
Gets the Hype, But We Still Live in the
Era of Big Spreadsheet”
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