Compare · Spreadsheets
Excel and WhatsApp versus one shared record, task by task.
Spreadsheets and chat groups are free, familiar and flexible, and they carry many solar companies to their first hundred jobs. The cost shows up later, in lost leads, repeated questions, unclear ownership and month-end reconstruction. This is how each daily task compares.
Is a spreadsheet enough for a solar company? For a handful of jobs, yes. As jobs, staff, partners and branches grow, sheets and chat groups cannot assign work, check duplicates, control who sees margins or keep a history that survives staff changes.
Task by task
Where sheets and chats stop and a shared record starts.
| Task | Excel and WhatsApp | HelioLattice |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking enquiries | A sheet per person, shared by message | One pipeline with owner, priority and next follow-up |
| Avoiding duplicate calls | Memory and search | Phone number match with a recorded override |
| Site survey | Notes and photos in a chat | A structured phone survey with location and categorised photos |
| Quotation | A document built by hand from a price sheet | A bill of materials from catalogue rules, approved before sending |
| Delivery paperwork | A checklist in someone's head | A configurable checklist with a named owner per stage |
| Stock | A sheet counted at month end | Warehouses, transfers, project issues and a ledger |
| Payments and expenses | A notebook and bills in a bag | Claims with proof, review and approval, and a pending balance per job |
| Partner leads | Messages from dealers | A partner portal with status and commission tracking |
| After-sales | Whoever remembers the customer | Tickets, AMC billing and service history on the customer record |
| Who sees what | Everyone sees the whole sheet | Roles, data scopes and hidden margins |
| Reports | Compiled by hand | More than twenty built-in reports and a work queue |
Keeping what works
You do not have to give up WhatsApp.
Customers and partners are comfortable on WhatsApp, and your team is too. HelioLattice logs WhatsApp conversations on the enquiry, and messaging bots are set up during implementation, so the chat becomes part of the record rather than a replacement for it.
- Conversations logged on the enquiry
- Internal notification bot for your staff
- Customer bots at the points you choose
Illustration of how a chat becomes part of the record.
Keep exploring
Connected pages.
Questions
Common questions.
When should a solar company leave spreadsheets?
Will we lose flexibility?
Can we bring our sheets in?
Bring the sheet you rely on most.
We will show it as a live record in the demo.