We’ll start with the bad news: 88% of spreadsheets contain errors.
Spreadsheet errors cost money, waste time, and even breed legal troubles. Many sales organizations continue to rely on spreadsheets to calculate sales commissions, probably hoping that errors will be rare. But they’re not.
That 88% statistic comes from a study done by a University of Hawaii professor who, we assume, was studying Excel documents while laying on the beach. (That’s how that works, right?) It breaks down to an error in every 20 cells in every spreadsheet.
Studies have shown that spreadsheets are riddled with errors that can cost you money.
The good news? Now’s a great time to ditch spreadsheets!
What’s wrong with the spreadsheet?
- Errors Abound: Aside from that study, Excel sheets are infamous for dire miscalculations. They’ve been responsible for accounting errors that forced Kodak to revise an earnings report that was already pretty bad. Even a couple Harvard professors messed up a study with a few misplaced Excel formulas. It’s far too easy for a commission administrator to miscalculate commissions with a spreadsheet.
- Tedious and Frustrating: Multiple steps go into updating sales commission spreadsheets each cycle. It can be exhausting to repeat each and every step required, from confirming formulas are accurate or updated and selecting the correct range of a sheet to making sure lookups are reading the exact text and moving data to new tabs. All that tedium is a breeding ground for mistakes that a commission administrator then has to revisit and fix. It’s enough to make any employee burn out quickly. Especially when, once the calculations are complete, there are still individualized reports to be generated and numerous emails to send.
- Limited Accessibility: You know how when you try to open a file that someone’s already opened on their computer and you get that “This File Is Already Opened” message? It’s the limitations of a static file like an Excel spreadsheet. Even if it’s saved on a shared drive, you can’t give your entire sales team access to see how their commission was calculated through that for a couple reasons. One, the technology just can’t support that; two, more people with access means more opportunity for accidental mistakes. If the sales team can’t see how those calculations are being done, you increase the likelihood of commission disputes.
Let us help you break the spreadsheet dependence. Core Commissions simplifies sales commission calculations by automating every step of the process.
Our flexible and powerful tools take even the most complex commission rules and apply them to your data, imported from multiple sources. Customize the program to work the way it needs to for your organization. Once your rules are built out, it just takes a click of a button to process sales commissions for all of your payees.
One more click and Core generates individualized reports for each payee and emails them automatically. Your sales team accesses everything they need to know about their sales commission calculations through the sales portal, making it easier for them to understand how they’re being paid.
Ready to kick the spreadsheet thing? Contact us and we’ll be happy to show you how Core Commissions can eliminate all those errors.