Spreadsheets make it difficult for supervisor review, and peer review, because they are so unwieldy. "Who is going to give a 15-worksheet workbook with thousands of calculations a thorough look?" Bailey asks.

The drawbacks of spreadsheets have led him to be a fervent user of more sophisticated BI and reporting tools. A former employee of , he prefers its software for its validation and versioning features. "You can look at one formula and validate more than 30% of calculations. It's a more efficient way of reviewing models," he says.

Bailey believes that Excel will be unseated someday as the tool of choice. "What made folks say, 'I'm done with horses, I think I'll drive a car'?" he asks. "That's the kind of change it will take."