Excel vs Access vs CRM - Which is best for my business?

Microsoft Excel has to be one of the most popular applications for business to ever be created. It's omnipresent in nearly all industries from healthcare to finance, dog grooming, and everything in between. Given that most of us are used to seeing and interacting with spreadsheets, it’s only natural to try and use it to solve every business problem we bump into. And while Excel can certainly be helpful in many use cases, it completely sucks in some very crucial situations that I'll outline below.

Excel is not a database - Anyone telling you otherwise has either never used a database or is trying to sabotage you.
Excel is not a CRM - CRM applications may have similar layouts to spreadsheets, but they are completely different beasts.
Excel is not your only free means of storing client and project data - Many people are turned off by CRM systems due to the high sticker price (I'm looking at you, Hubspot). But there are many premium subscription-free platforms like Super Easy CRM or Suite CRM.
Excel cannot scale with your business - Scalable solutions are crucial to business growth. With a CRM or similar platform, scaling is handled by the vendor and generally involves little to no work on your end. If you run everything in Excel, the only way to scale is by adding another tab to your workbook or another row to the mile-long list of data you have.
Excel does not allow for efficient collaboration - Having multiple people converge on a spreadsheet for a project is a surefire way to compromise data integrity. Someone will save a different version to work on or apply a filter where there shouldn't be, resulting in a compromised dataset. Now you can somewhat mitigate this by using version control and other constraints through cloud platforms like Google Sheets or SharePoint, but even those juggernauts have their limitations.

When should you use Excel over a CRM?

In truth, you should really only use Excel over a CRM if you're in a heavily regulated industry AND you don't have the money to pay for a subscription. The reason you want to steer clear of free platforms if you're governed by HIPAA or other regulatory standards is that most subscription-free platforms DO NOT provide the encryption standards required to protect sensitive data.

Even expensive solutions like Hubspot only started offering a HIPAA-compliant option in January of 2024. There is a ton of risk as a vendor to secure sensitive data, so most will need to charge you to maintain a secure infrastructure. So if this is you and you also don't have the money in your budget this year for a CRM subscription, Excel is probably the best option.

There is also an option for you to self-host a CRM solution, but that involves paying for servers, domains, and developers if you don't have the skillset in-house. There are a few more reasons other than cost and regulatory burdens that may make Excel a more suitable solution for you.

You have a simple, one-off project - For small, isolated projects like tracking a short-term event's attendees or organizing a to-do list, Excel works perfectly. Its quick setup and flexibility make it a handy tool for straightforward, temporary tasks that don't justify setting up a CRM.
Your team is very small or nonexistent - If you're running a one-person operation or collaborating with just one other person, the complexity of a CRM may not be necessary. Excel can handle small-scale collaboration with cloud-based options like Google Sheets or Office 365, but keep in mind the limitations of long-term scalability and security.
You only need basic reporting or analysis - Excel's built-in formulas, pivot tables, and charting tools make it ideal for quick data analysis without the need for more sophisticated CRM reporting features. However, this approach is only viable if your dataset is small and the analysis isn't overly complex.

How about Microsoft Access?

A step above Excel is Microsoft Access. It's a well-established, albeit less popular relational database solution that allows you to store data as you would in Excel but with more robust checks for data integrity and querying capabilities. Of the options out there, I found MS Access' UI to be the most annoying to work with.

MS SQL Server Studio is much better, and if you're looking for a free option, phpMyAdmin is the best around. Though MS Access is a true database solution, it comes with some of the same limitations Excel has, namely the inability to collaborate efficiently. Here are some of the major drawbacks:

Limited scalability - MS Access works well for small datasets, but as your data grows or your team expands, its performance and capacity quickly become bottlenecks.
Poor collaboration tools - Access is designed as a standalone application, making real-time collaboration clunky and inefficient compared to modern cloud-based solutions.
Windows-only support - Access is tied to the Microsoft ecosystem, meaning you won't find native support for macOS or Linux users.
Steep learning curve - While it's powerful, Access can be challenging for users unfamiliar with database design or SQL, requiring significant time investment to learn. I've been writing SQL code almost daily for over a decade and I still find it painful whenever I'm forced to work on an Access database.

While Access can handle more complexity than Excel, it's not the best solution for businesses looking to scale, collaborate, or integrate their data with other systems. But if you've got the patience, an Office 365 subscription, and the SQL knowledge, it could be a viable alternative for you.

So, what is the best customer/project database solution for my business?

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, I'm willing to wager that 99% of business owners and solopreneurs would benefit greatly from moving away from Access or Excel to a CRM. If you need to wait until more money comes in to make the leap to the cloud, consider taking a look at the best free CRM application on the planet. Sign up for a free trial of Super Easy CRM using the link below. If you love the platform and don't feel like shelling out money for a subscription, use the Free Forever tier to keep your data accessible for decades to come.

Matt Irving is the CEO of Super Easy Tech, LLC.

Matt is the CEO of Super Easy Tech and creator of Super Easy CRM. He is a passionate software engineer, tech blogger, and gamer. Feel free to connect on any of the platforms listed below.

Posted by: Matt Irving on 12/12/2024