The reason that both Access and Excel use is so prevalent in corporate “shadow IT” land is because there are many parts of the business that have problems for which only a negative or marginal business-case can be made for IT to solve it (given the “get out of bed” costs of most IT departments). It’s a barrier-to-entry problem. Excel and Access are cheap enough and fly under the corporate IT radar (no involvement needed), that these marginal problems can be addressed in a self-serve manner.
I’ve worked in organisations that have tried to kill these tools off but unless you can lower the cost-to-play or offer a “better” self/serve alternative, you will fail.
I’ve worked in organisations that have tried to kill these tools off but unless you can lower the cost-to-play or offer a “better” self/serve alternative, you will fail.