---
title: Stop the spreadsheet ping-pong
description: The same spreadsheet bounces between sales, finance and management, and every version is a little different. Why it happens and how to stop it.
---

[Insights: Data, CRM and AI for SMEs | Vidalico Digital](https://www.vidalico.com/blog)

# [Stop the spreadsheet ping-pong](https://www.vidalico.com/blog/have-you-ever-played-corporate-ping-pong)

 Written by [Peter Tasala](https://www.vidalico.com/blog/author/peter-tasala) | Jan 9, 2024, 12:51:51 PM

*Why the same file keeps bouncing between departments, and how to end the game*

You probably know the game. Sales exports a customer list and sends it to finance. Finance adds payment terms and sends it back. Someone in management adds a column, renames the file "\_final\_v3" and forwards it. A week later there are four versions in four inboxes, and nobody is sure which one is right.

That's corporate ping-pong. Everybody is working hard, and the ball never lands.

## What it costs

**Time.** Every round means exporting, merging, checking and re-sending. It rarely shows up as a task in anyone's plan, but it eats hours every week.

**Accuracy.** Each copy drifts a little. A corrected address in one version, an updated deal in another. By the time a decision is made, it's based on a mix of old and new.

**Trust.** When numbers depend on which file you opened, meetings turn into arguments about the numbers instead of decisions about the business.

**Risk.** Customer data in email attachments is hard to keep track of and hard to delete. Under the revised Swiss data protection law, that's a problem you don't want.

## Why it happens

Spreadsheets aren't the villain. They're quick, flexible and everyone knows them. Ping-pong starts when a spreadsheet becomes the place where shared data lives, because the systems don't hold it, don't connect, or are too awkward to use.

## How to end the game

**1. Find the balls.** List the files that travel between departments every week or month. Usually there are only a handful: customer lists, pipeline overviews, open offers, revenue reports.

**2. Give each one a home.** For each file, decide which system should hold that data. Customer and deal data belongs in the CRM, financial data in accounting or the ERP.

**3. Share views, not files.** Instead of sending an export, give people access to a report or view in the system. Everyone sees the same live data, and nobody has to merge anything.

**4. Connect the systems that need to talk.** If the CRM and accounting both need the customer, sync it automatically. A manual copy is just ping-pong with extra steps.

**5. Keep spreadsheets for what they're good at.** One-off analysis, quick calculations, modelling a scenario. Not as the shared record of your customers.

## Further reading

If spreadsheets are still at the centre of your reporting, these two posts go deeper: [why SMEs should ditch spreadsheets](https://www.vidalico.com/blog/why-smes-should-ditch-spreadsheets-and-move-to-hubspot) and [overcoming the spreadsheet-centric reporting culture](https://www.vidalico.com/blog/overcoming-the-spreadsheet-centric-reporting-culture).

Wondering how much of your work still runs on spreadsheets and hand-offs? Take our free [AI-Readiness Check](https://www.vidalico.com/ai-readiness-check): twelve questions, about three minutes, and you see your score in five areas straight away.

## Where to start

Our [Digitalization Audit](https://www.vidalico.com/ai-and-digitalization-for-swiss-smes) finds the files that bounce around your company, shows where the data should live instead, and ranks what's worth fixing first.

**[Start with the Digitalization Audit →](https://www.vidalico.com/ai-and-digitalization-for-swiss-smes)**

[View full post](https://www.vidalico.com/blog/have-you-ever-played-corporate-ping-pong)

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