Excel
Summary
Spreadsheet featuring calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language
Parent organisation: Microsoft
Type of organisation: Publicly-listed company (or group)
Market share: Market dominance
Pricing: $5/user/month-$20/user/month
Factors driving pricing: Additional features, More users (publishing-side)
Skills needed to set-up: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Skills needed to use: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Parent organisation: Microsoft
Type of organisation: Publicly-listed company (or group)
Market share: Market dominance
Pricing: $5/user/month-$20/user/month
Factors driving pricing: Additional features, More users (publishing-side)
Skills needed to set-up: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Skills needed to use: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Pros
Open Source alternatives available
Releases new features regularly
Shares product roadmap
Transparent pricing model
Clear data policies
Allows data export
Allows data deletion
Has accessibility statement
Shares diversity data
Cons
Monopoly platform - does not aid a diverse media ecosystem
Full Product Data Collection
Data collected January-February 2020
| Product name | Excel |
| Product URL | https://products.office.com/en-us/excel |
| Parent organisation | Microsoft |
| Workflow category | Collaboration & editing |
| Date product founded | 1987 |
| Product description | Spreadsheet featuring calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language |
| What type of company or organisation is the product owned by? | Publicly-listed company (or group) |
| Is the company profit-making? | Yes, profitable |
| How is this product funded? | Subscriptions |
| What market share does the tool have? | Market dominance |
| Is there an Open Source alternative in this product space? | Yes. LibreOffice Calc, OpenOffice Calc, Gnumeric, EtherCalc, SocialCalc |
| When did the company last release new features? | Dec-2019 |
| Have they shared details of the product roadmap? | Yes, Dynamic Arrays – using one formula to return multiple values. |
| Is there talk of the product raising further investment? | No |
| Is there talk of the product being acquired? | No |
| Have there been any newsworthy business issues or challenges in the last 12 months? | No |
| Is there a pricing model listed on the website? | Yes |
| How clear & transparent is this pricing model? | Very: full pricing listed |
| What is the range of prices offered? | Business – $5/user/month Business Standard – $12.50/user/month Business Premium – $20/user/month |
| What factors drive higher pricing? | Additional features, More users (publishing-side) |
| What skills are needed to get this tool set up & usable? | Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it) |
| What skills are needed to USE this tool day-to-day? | Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it) |
| Does this tool use proprietary file formats for saving documents & outputs? | Has proprietary file formats but offers open options |
| Is the product reliant on 3rd-party APIs or interoperability to function? | No |
| Have there been any newsworthy technical issues in the last 3 years? | No |
| How clear is the Terms of Service for users (i.e. publishing customers)? | Technical, legalistic TOS |
| Does the product have a data collection & usage policy on its website? (Can be a GDPR statement)? | Yes, comprehensive. |
| Is their data policy “GDPR everywhere”? | GDPR unclear on these details |
| Does the product require your audience to sign-in to use it? | N/A not an audience-facing tool |
| IF SIGN IN REQUIRED: Does audience sign-in use 3rd party platforms? | N/A not an audience-facing tool |
| Does the public product website mention how to export or transfer your data to another service? | Yes: Audience can data export |
| Does the public product website mention how to delete your data? | Yes: for publisher data only |
| Have there been any newsworthy security breaches with this product in the last 3 years? | No |
| Does the company have an accessibility statement on its website? | Yes |
| Does the company release information on the diversity of the workforce? | Yes |