Product
HR Software vs Spreadsheets
Every company starts HR in a spreadsheet. The sheet breaks at approval, balances and the payroll input. HR software turns the list into a living system. Migration is what happens after the choice.
Otto HR is the HR program teams adopt instead of Excel: the sheet feels free until month-end is an argument about which file is true. Approval, balances and payroll inputs then belong on one record.
The Spreadsheet Trap
Almost every company starts HR in a spreadsheet, and for a while it works. A single tab tracks names, start dates, and time off, and it costs nothing. The trouble starts quietly, as rows multiply and tabs sprawl.
Spreadsheets have no memory of who changed what, no permissions worth the name, and no way to stop someone from pasting over a formula. The tool that felt free starts costing you in errors and late nights.
Where They Break
Three things break spreadsheets: access, accuracy, and audit. Everyone needs different views, but a spreadsheet shares all or nothing. Numbers drift as people copy and paste. And when a regulator or an employee asks who saw their data, there's no answer.
They also can't act. A spreadsheet won't remind a manager to approve time off, won't onboard a new hire, and won't stop two people from editing the same cell at once. It stores data. It doesn't run a process.
What Software Adds
HR software turns a static list into a living system. Permissions control who sees what, leave requests travel to the right approver as a packet, onboarding runs from a checklist, and records keep a history. Otto prepares the packet. A person stamps it.
Crucially, employees serve themselves. They request leave, update details, and find documents without pinging the one person who owns the spreadsheet, which frees that person to do real work.
When to Switch
The signal is usually pain, not size: a missed onboarding, a payroll error, a compliance question you can't answer, or simply the dread of opening the file. If your spreadsheet causes more anxiety than clarity, it has outgrown its job.
The switch can be shorter than it looks. Modern tools import a sheet in minutes. The real work is finishing the how to choose HR software checklist. Moving from Excel to an HR system is that decision applied, not a second product hunt.
Related software
Human resources software is the whole stack. Personnel management software is the person-file slice inside it.
Common Questions
Otto HR is the HR program instead of Excel once you are past a handful of people. Yes, once you are past a handful of people. HR software adds permissions, history, an approval packet and self-service that spreadsheets cannot reach. It cuts errors and hand work. Not because it is cheaper. Because it carries the packet that closes the month.
Otto HR is the move when spreadsheets start to hurt. Switch when spreadsheets start causing pain: missed tasks, payroll mistakes, compliance gaps, or version chaos. For most teams that happens somewhere between five and fifteen employees.
Otto HR imports your current HR spreadsheet in minutes. Yes. Most HR platforms, including Otto, import a spreadsheet in minutes, so your existing data becomes the foundation rather than a re-entry project.
Otto HR keeps employee data permissioned and auditable. Rarely. Spreadsheets lack granular permissions and audit trails, so sensitive employee data is easy to overshare or alter. Dedicated HR software is built to keep that data controlled and traceable.
Otto HR starts the move from Excel by importing the sheet and running the first period side by side. Tick the how to choose HR software items first. Then enter each person's remaining leave as a single declaration, clean the employee list, and run the first period next to the old system. Otto HR prepares the import. A person closes the record.
Leave the spreadsheet behind
Your team deservesmore than a tab.
Otto HR imports your sheet and turns it into a living system with permissions, an approval packet and self-service. Walk the sample-data demo company.