Fold vs. searching spreadsheets by hand
We're not comparing Fold to another product: we're comparing the two real ways to find a piece of data in your business today. No overselling either side.
How it works today, by hand
In most small businesses the data exists, but it's scattered: one spreadsheet for rates, another for stock, an email with the price someone agreed over the phone. Finding it means opening the right file, searching for the row, and trusting it's the real version and not a copy from three months ago.
When the person asking isn't the person who keeps the spreadsheet, the answer takes time: either they wait for a free moment, or someone answers from memory and sometimes gets it wrong. Neither is anyone's fault: it's what happens when data lives only in one person's head and in a file only they really know.
The difference, point by point
- Where you search
- By hand: open the right file (if you know which one) and search the row. With Fold: ask in your own words and get back the exact row the answer comes from.
- How many sources
- By hand: each spreadsheet on its own, one at a time. With Fold: your spreadsheets from day one, and once you sign up, your Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox folders too; SharePoint and other connectors are coming soon.
- When the data isn't there
- By hand: it doesn't always show; sometimes someone answers with what sounds reasonable. Fold says it can't find it, instead of making up a number.
- Who can ask
- By hand: only whoever knows that particular spreadsheet. With Fold, anyone on your team can ask directly, without waiting for that person to be free.
- What it costs to start
- By hand: nothing, because that's already how you work. Fold has a free plan to try it with your own files before paying anything (a limited number of questions; paid plans raise that limit).
- What doesn't change
- Fold doesn't replace your management software or your spreadsheets: it connects to what you already use, read-only. And like anything that reads real data, the first few days call for a supervised adjustment period, checking a few answers until you trust it.
When searching by hand still makes sense
If your data lives in one person's head and that person is always available, searching by hand can be enough. Fold starts to show its value once the team grows, once the same question comes up several times a day, or once the person who holds the data can't always answer right away.
Try it with your own files
Fold's free plan exists for exactly this: checking the difference with your own data, not a demo.