40 years of Microsoft Excel: Q&A with Cin7 CFO Erik Rothschild

Four decades on, new iplicit research shows its role is evolving but far from over: 92% of midmarket finance leaders believe AI will make their teams’ use of Excel more efficient and powerful.

As part of our mini-series, we’ve gathered comments from a range of CFOs on how they see the past, present, and future of Excel. In this edition, we hear from Erik Rothschild, Chief Financial Officer at Cin7

1. Looking back over your career, how has Excel shaped the way finance professionals and CFOs like yourself work? Has its importance dwindled over time, or does it remain as mission-critical today as it did 40 years ago?

“Excel has arguably had the most impact on the way that financial professionals work over the last 40 years of any tool. The industry uses it to do everything from simple calculations to managing entire businesses. Over the past 20 years or so, cloud-based platforms have displaced Excel for more complex workflows and tasks; however, with its flexibility and ease of use, it remains the tool of choice for fast and easy modelling or communicating financial information. It is also ubiquitous, which allows groups to exchange information and collaborate even if they are not part of the same organisation.”

2. In your view, where does Excel continue to add the most value for inventory management teams today, and where does it fall short?

“Excel is a powerful tool that works well if you're managing only one location, one sales channel, or one price list. However, when your business expands and you experience a significant increase in sales volume, locations, or sales channels, or offer different prices to different customers, Excel may start to fall short.

With Excel, you can run into big problems like losing your data if the file gets corrupted, having to fix and maintain formulas by hand, and not getting real-time updates. That can slow down your business and lead to mistakes.

An inventory system solves these problems. It gives you live, real-time data, accurate reports, a single source of truth, and does a lot of the work for you automatically.

In the past, Excel was used for powerful forecasting tools like Solver and Monte Carlo simulations. But now, with ForesightAI built into Cin7, you can get many of those same advanced features, plus the ability to use them across all your inventory channels. That makes it easier and smarter to manage your business as it grows.”

3. With cloud platforms, automation, and AI now commonplace, how do you see Excel’s role evolving in the next 5–10 years? 

“Excel should maintain its current place as a flexible and easy-to-use tool for financial modelling. Shortcut.ai and other new cloud-based or AI tools are attempting to gain market share for more complex use cases, but for simple applications, or when collaborating with other teams is needed, Excel remains a useful solution.”

4. What advice would you give to fellow business leaders about striking the right balance between leveraging Excel and embracing more automated, integrated finance tools? 

“Choosing between Excel or other automated solutions should depend on the use case and need. For repeatable processes that involve the same data sources, an automated solution is likely the better option. For one-off analysis or if collaboration is needed across teams, Excel can still serve as a fast, efficient tool for financial professionals.”

• Learn how iplicit connects effortlessly with Excel to keep your reports live, accurate, and error-free. Find out more