Organizations rely heavily on products such as Microsoft Excel, Word and Access to perform day to day tasks. In some cases, users have created solutions using these tools, which can be classified as End User Computing (EUC) solutions.
In this context, an EUC can be loosely defined as applications that are developed and maintained by users without the involvement of IT and mostly managed outside the purview of IT without the associated governance and controls. Many EUCs are created when IT is not available to meet a specific request either due to timelines, budgets, resources or other system constraints.
Many organizations are facing a proliferation of these types of EUCs for a while given the widespread use of these products and the relative ease by which complex data, calculation and reporting needs can be implemented. While there are different technologies used to develop EUC applications, the preferred tool for many is Microsoft Excel.Excel’s broad capabilities and ease of use makes it extremely powerful for non-programmers to build applications:
- Rich UI capabilities for data entry, reporting (charts), analytics (pivots) and many other features
- Easy implementation of complex formulas, references and calculations
- Data storage - storing data in tables and cells without a defined schema
- Multiple ways to integrate with data sources, references across workbooks, etc.
- In addition to Excel’s capabilities, users have implemented processes around their Excel EUCs. For example sharing, distribution and workflow via email, export and copying data across EUCs and into systems, etc.
However, these EUC applications pose significant challenges to organizations especially when the EUC are not governed:
- Reputational, financial and operational risk
- Uninformed business decision making process
- Lack of governance and controls
- Addressing internal/external audit is extremely challenging
- Difficulty demonstrating regulatory compliance
- Manual processes and reconciliations are error-prone and inefficient
- Unnecessary costs due to manual nature of work
To minimize the associated risks, Virtusa helps organizations to address the following:
- Identifying the EUCs and analyzing the complexity and risk related to each EUC
- The complexity in understanding the current Excel functionality and building a replacement
- Maximizing the benefits from EUC elimination by looking at the surrounding processes to eliminate manual processes
- A holistic approach is needed to ensure a high quality solution is developed and maintained, especially to avoid the re-proliferation of new Excel EUCs if users face functional gaps
- Building solutions that can be re-used, especially in cases where there are a significant number of EUCs to be remediated
EUCs have been around for decades and will keep emerging and multiplying in the future. The key is to ensure that when EUCs are introduced, they can be governed and remediated quickly and effectively into the optimum target state solution.
By working with Virtusa, your organization can achieve a thorough and future-proof EUC strategy:
- Ability to govern EUCs to meet regulatory, audit and other requirements
- Understand the gaps in processes and in existing systems that create the need for EUCs
- Accelerated remediation and replacement of EUCs based on priority
- Solve EUC issues using best-fit solutions that will avoid re-proliferation, whether that is through data platforms, process optimization, or replacing each EUC