Comments for Enterprise 2.0 To Become a $4.6 Billion Industry By 2013

eXpresso Takes The Enterprise Route to Web Office

2008-01-23T05:51:54Z

I first noticed eXpresso when they bought a little start-up called Xcellery that had a neat way to collaborate using Excel. I had used the product and it worked pretty well.

eXpresso was named as one of PC World's 25 Most Innovative Products of the Year for 2007. PC World succinctly summed the product up: "[it] allows Excel users to share their spreadsheets, online or off." eXpresso is different from the web office contenders that you normally hear about on ReadWriteWeb for three reasons:

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The company originated as an enterprise systems vendor that happened to use collaboration around Excel to deliver solutions. So they arrived at the market by way of solving real world problems as opposed to companies that look at how much money Microsoft makes with Office and saying “I want a piece of that”.

They focus on Excel. They don’t try to replace Word, or Powerpoint or Outlook. The Office bundle was based on the logic of the OEM market for PC vendors. There is no reason to have a bundle today. A great spreadsheet can stand alone quite easily.

They extend Excel rather than trying to replace it. That works in the real world. Apart from early adopters with relatively simple spreadsheets, people are comfortable with Excel. It works well, it is extensible, it is easy to use. In an enterprise setting the cost of Excel compared to the functionality is a complete non-issue. But Excel’s native collaboration tools are weak and emailing versions around gets to be a real pain when you get to 3 or more contributors; that introduces errors in what can be mission critical applications.

eXpresso say they want to replace Powerpoint as well. I think that’s a mistake. I would urge them to go long and deep on the Excel front. There is little logical connection or synergy between Excel and Powerpoint. The whole Powerpoint paradigm is flawed and will get replaced by Screencast and YouTube type presentations, in my opinion.

Excel really is a unique product. It could be a winner for a long time to come with some simple updating. Microsoft currently seems to want to push integration through SharePoint. Thats not want users want. The IT guys may like that and tell Microsoft thats the right way to go but Microsoft did best when the listened to users more than to IT.

Users don’t care a hoot about SharePoint but if you try taking away Excel you will hear muttering about “over my dead body”. So many start-ups have tried to create a programming environment that ordinary business people can use and nobody has succeeded. Excel delivers on this promise and has for a long time. A novice can be productive in minutes. An expert can find endless ways to add sophistication and capability.

Collaboration really is the missing piece. I used Xcellery first for a simple sales forecasting application where 4 people had to enter forecasts. It worked a treat and there was no set up or re-training required. Millions of people have the same need.

Collaboration is also easy with Excel as there is an obvious unit for the locking - a cell. This is much harder with Word and Powerpoint.

Two real world stories illustrate the power of Excel. One was the CEO of an outsourcing company who said that one of the first things they looked for was a high level of proficiency in Excel. Without that it was, pass. The other was a comment by a vendor selling high end financial trading systems about Excel replacing the browser. The IT guys in the room were aghast with horror at the idea. The users were “yep that’s right”. Excel has handled real time updates pretty well for traders for over a decade; long before Ajax.

Comment from Don on 2008-01-22

2008-01-23T07:45:34Z

The screenshot above seems to Microsoft OWC - a now-defunct offering that Microsoft used to offer to enterprise for displaying Excel files within the company intranet in the pre-Excel services era and specifically forbids using it outside the enterprise...Unless Expresso has a separate licensing arrangement with Microsoft to let users access OWC over the public internet (highly doubful), they are definitely violating Microsoft's usage terms by allowing any user to access the spreadsheet…am surprised that this company managed to get funding as any half-decent VC would have discovered this during due diligence...

Comment from Johan on 2008-01-23

2008-01-23T11:16:30Z

For my own small business I investigated Excel sharing solutions and found that Expresso works much better than both Gridview and Office Live.

Unfortunately Expresso only works well with Internet Explorer and will be a paid service after leaving the beta stage.

Gridview's file sync is horrible which meant that I ended up using Office Live which is not perfect, but at least it is free :)

I found that for hardcore Excel users who need to collaborate on their documents Expresso is from a technical point of view by far the best solution.

Comment from Reto Laemmler on 2008-01-23

2008-01-23T14:17:29Z

Excellent article Bernard! As the original Founder of Xcellery I'm happy to hear about your positive experience with our service. Together with eXpresso, we continue providing an outstanding collaboration service for Microsoft Excel.

To Don:
The OWC editor is only one part of the eXpresso solution. eXpresso offers a plug-in for Excel which lets you work from inside Excel. Regarding your licensing concerns, don't worry both companies are talking to each other.

To Johan:
eXpresso will also have a free version beside the commercial one once out of BETA.

Comment from Don Jones on 2008-01-23

2008-01-23T20:53:51Z

Sharing PowerPoint presentations - all the time

Importing data from Excel to PowerPoint presentations - all the time.

Why wouldn't they want to expand into PowerPoint?

Comment from Princesc98 on 2008-01-23

2008-01-24T00:21:46Z

I really enjoy using eXpresso. It has helped me and my co-workers collaborate on spreadsheets without having to bounce e-mails around. We no longer have the problem of "who has the current/up-to-date version". Their audit tracking capabilities are also very helpful. Great job!

Comment from Colin Joss on 2008-01-23

2008-01-24T04:59:16Z

I am so glad I found this article. I still try to familiarize myself with google office, but this Expresso may be worth considering as alternative.

Thank's

Colin Joss
East Lothian, Haddington
United Kingdom

Comment from Colin Joss on 2008-01-25

2008-01-26T03:26:48Z

Johan,

Thank you for bringing up the issue..

I give that a look and as it may work for those who are light and medium users, it is not recommended solution for heavy users like me, but still ok for sharing and evaluation purpose for simple and regular use.

Comment from Colin Joss on 2008-01-28

2008-01-28T08:06:32Z

Yesterday I read an article that it is possible for Google Documents to have scripts. I wonder eXpresso can operate the macros from Microsoft Office Documents.

Colin Joss
East Lothian, Haddington, United Kingdom

Comment from Wii Player on 2008-01-28

2008-01-28T22:17:51Z

eXpresso is vital at work. We actually call it gamer fuel. Best served with no milk, and 3 sugars.