What is Microsoft Excel best suited for?

What is Microsoft Excel used for?

Since Excel is so easy to learn and adapt to it has become hugely popular in many areas of business. Because of this, it is used widely in many different ways. Here are the most popular applications for MS Excel:

1. Business Analysis

The most common application of Microsoft Excel in the office is to analyze and improve business performance. Essentially, this is the use of data generated by the business to inform decision-making.

Businesses naturally collect data in their daily operations, which could include data on product sales, website traffic, supply spending, insurance claims, and so on. The activity of transforming data into something valuable to the individuals who manage the firm is known as analysis.

You could, for example, run a profitability report for all the products a company is selling. If the company consistently loses money on specific products, the data could be utilized to make the decision to delist these products and reduce losses.

If you are into data analysis you will want to go through our Excel data analyst ultimate guide.

Jobs in Business Analysis:

• Business Analyst, 
• Business Solutions Analyst, 
• Business Planning Analyst, 
• Claims Analyst, 
• Collections Analyst, 
• Credit Officer, 
• Data Analyst, 
• Finance Business Analyst,
• Investment Operations Portfolio Analyst.

2. Human Resource and People Management

Another popular use of Microsoft Excel in business is for human resource management. 

An Excel spreadsheet is an effective tool for organizing information on people, whether they are employees, clients, supporters, or training participants.

All kinds of information on individuals can be efficiently saved and retrieved using Excel. An individual’s records in a spreadsheet can include information such as name, email address, start date, things purchased, subscription status, flights taken, and last contact.

Jobs in Human Resource and People Management:

• Client Relationship Manager, 
• Client Service Manager, 
• Employer Service Consultant, 
• HR Administrator, 
• Human Resources Consultant,
• Human Resources Analyst, 
• Reconciliation and Payments Officer, 
• Relationship Managers of all kinds.

3. Performance Reporting

Performance monitoring and reporting is a special type of business analysis that may be accomplished effectively with Microsoft Excel.

An Excel pivot table is a standard approach to converting data into a performance report. You may easily extract relevant information from a dataset by introducing a pivot table and attaching it to the data. Pivot tables include a plethora of built-in functions that enable operations such as counting and summing specific sorts of data inside the dataset.

For example, you want to count the instance a specific brand is sold in a region. Even if this organization had thousands of sales records, a pivot table can extract the required information in the blink of an eye.

Jobs in Performance Reporting:

• Financial Accountant, 
• Forecast Analyst/Sales Support, 
• Performance Analyst, 
• Procurement Analyst, 
• Professional Services Operations Analyst, 
• Reporting Analyst.

4. Managing Operations

Many organizations rely significantly on the features of MS Excel to handle their day-to-day operations. Business activities frequently involve intricate logistics, for example. 

Inventory flows must be managed in order to keep operations running smoothly and without overstocking specific items. This includes keeping track of supplier and customer transactions, creating a calendar of important dates, and managing time and schedules for deliveries.

While large companies like Amazon employ sophisticated proprietary software for operations management, many small to medium size businesses rely on Microsoft Excel exclusively.

Excel has the advantage of being relatively low-tech, allowing it to be utilized by a large number of individuals with very basic level training.

Jobs in Managing Operations:

• Supply Chain and Operations Managers, 
• In-Market Supply Chain Analyst, 
• Operational Business Analyst, 
• Operational Enablement Associate, 
• Operational Knowledge Management Specialist, 
• Supply Chain Specialist, 
• Business Operations Analyst, 
• Data Operations Manager.

5. Strategic Analysis

Strategic analysis is simply using Excel in making strategic business decisions that are intimately linked to the data in spreadsheets. You can use Excel to take strategic decisions on things like investments and asset allocations.

As an example, Excel can help you analyze the performance of various investments to help you develop your quarterly investment strategies. 

Jobs in Strategic Analysis:

• Asset Manager - Realty Management Division, 
• Valuations Analyst for Mergers and Acquisitions
• Campaigns Strategist,
• Portfolio Administrators and Analysts, 
• Wealth Managers.

6. Office Administration

Office administrators utilize Microsoft Excel to enter and retain critical administrative data. The same data can be used for accounting and financial reporting, as well as operations analysis and performance reporting in the future.

Excel is useful in office administration for assisting day-to-day duties such as invoicing, paying bills, and contacting suppliers and clients, in addition to recordkeeping. It's a multi-purpose program for tracking and organizing workplace operations.

Jobs in Office Administration:

• Administrative Officer, 
• Administrative Supervisor, 
• Business Operations and Office Manager, 
• Clerical and Administrative Officer, 
• Office Admin Manager,
• Any administrative position that requires you to manage people or places.

7. Project Management

Although project managers have access to project management (PM) software, an Excel worksheet is frequently a viable option.

Projects are business operations with a budget and a start and finish date. Project plans can be entered into a workbook, which can be used to track progress and keep the project on track. A Gantt chart in Excel can be used to lay out tasks in terms of durations and critical dates.

One advantage of utilizing Excel is that it is simple to share the project worksheet with others, especially those who are unfamiliar with or do not have access to proprietary PM software.

By the way, if you are new to project management here is a list of the best project management books for beginners.

Jobs in Project Management:

• Project Analyst, 
• Project Assistant/Officer (IT), 
• Project Business Analyst.