Excel + a few helpers
Office 365 + a person to keep it running + the time everyone else loses to it.
| Microsoft 365 licences (5 × $6/mo) | $360 |
|---|---|
| 0.5 FTE data-entry & sheet upkeep (GST returns, reports, reconciliations) | $18,000 |
| Avoidable errors (industry studies: 88% of business spreadsheets contain errors) | $3,000 |
| Manual reporting time (5 hrs/wk × 50 wks × $30/hr loaded) | $7,500 |
| Audit / compliance remediation (spreadsheets fail GST, VAT, SOC 2 audit on their own) | $4,000 |
| Annual total | ~$32,860 |
- No revision control — one wrong overwrite, hours of work gone
- No audit trail — auditors and tax officers reject it
- No multi-user concurrency — file-lock conflicts daily
- No mobile / field access — stuck at the office desktop
- No automation — every report is a manual copy-paste job
- No regulatory compliance (GDPR / DPDPA / GST) out of the box