The risks associated with managing millions in market data spend in Excel

March 5, 2026 | Charles Ashwanden, Co-Founder & CEO

There’s a quiet reality in market data management that doesn’t get talked about much — at least not publicly. Despite the scale and complexity of vendor ecosystems, many firms are still managing significant portions of their market data governance through spreadsheets. Not entirely, not recklessly, but meaningfully enough that it shapes how decisions are made.

And to be clear — this isn’t a criticism. Spreadsheets are flexible, accessible, and familiar. They’ve helped organizations manage complexity for decades. I’ve seen highly capable teams run sophisticated processes with them. But I’ve also seen where they start to break down. And when market data spend reaches meaningful scale, those cracks matter.

Why spreadsheets persist

It’s worth acknowledging why Excel remains embedded in the workflow.

They are fast to implement, they don’t require budget approval, everyone understands how to use a spreadsheet or Goolge Doc, and they can easily be adapted to changing needs without governance overhead.

In environments where vendor relationships evolve and internal ownership shifts, that flexibility is valuable. The issue isn’t that spreadsheets exist. The issue is when they become the system of record. That’s where risk begins to accumulate.

The visibility ceiling

Spreadsheets are excellent for storing information. They are less effective at delivering organizational visibility. As vendor environments grow, information typically spreads across multiple files and versions, individual ownership, and of course departmental silos.

At that point, answering straightforward questions becomes difficult: What is our complete vendor exposure? Where are we over-licensed or underutilized? Which contracts carry overlapping entitlements? Where are we over-licensed or underutilized? Which contracts carry overlapping entitlements? What renewals are approaching across the firm?

None of these questions are impossible to answer — but answering them requires effort, coordination, and manual reconciliation. Strategic decision-making slows when visibility isn’t immediate.

Version control and decision confidence

Anyone who has operated in spreadsheet-driven environments recognizes the version control challenge–Which file is current? Who last updated it? Was that change validated? Are formulas still intact?

These may seem like operational nuisances, but they directly influence decision confidence. Leadership decisions grounded in uncertain data carry downstream implications — particularly when negotiating or reallocating spend. Over time, organizations compensate by adding process layers: reviews, cross-checks, manual validation. These safeguards help, but they also increase friction.

Concentration of knowledge

One of the more subtle risks I’ve observed is how heavily spreadsheet environments rely on individuals–the person who built the structure understands its logic, they know where edge cases live, they know what assumptions were made.

That knowledge isn’t always transferable.

When roles change — which they inevitably do — continuity can be disrupted. The organization doesn’t just lose a contributor; it loses embedded context. In complex vendor ecosystems, that context has real value.

Audit and compliance exposure

Market data usage and licensing carry compliance implications that extend beyond operational oversight. Spreadsheet-based tracking introduces challenges around:

• Documentation consistency
• Entitlement traceability
• Historical transparency
• Access governance

When governance tools primarily support record-keeping, organizations remain focused on maintaining equilibrium rather than identifying opportunity. This doesn’t mean spreadsheets fail. It means they cap potential.

A transition point the industry is approaching

Market data ecosystems are growing more complex — more vendors, more entitlements, more scrutiny, more cross-functional dependency. At some scale, most organizations reach an inflection point where flexibility begins to compete with visibility, and familiarity competes with scalability. That moment looks different for every firm and there isn’t a universal threshold. But the industry conversation is shifting toward evaluating whether legacy workflows support modern expectations around intelligence, responsiveness, and governance. Not because spreadsheets are inadequate–but because organizational demands are evolving.

Excel has earned its place in financial services. It’s not disappearing, nor should it. The question isn’t whether spreadsheets belong in market data management. The question is where they belong. Used as tools — they are invaluable. Used as infrastructure — they introduce constraints that aren’t always visible until complexity grows.

As firms continue modernizing their investment environments, many are reconsidering which systems drive visibility, and which support it. That reflection isn’t about replacing familiarity.

It’s about aligning capability with scale.

Ready to see how Sidelight can help you reduce risk and see why so many asset management firms are moving their market data operations away from Excel and to a modern, AI-centric solution? We’d love to chat and show you the platform. Register for a demo here.

Alternatively, take a look at our Contracts AI walkthrough to get a feel for how we are helping asset management firms take control of their market data subscriptions and applications.