Excel for Business Success: From Practical Skills to Real Solutions - Interactive Learning

Find out more about Matthew

• 1) Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  My dad bought it to do his company accounts but never touched it! I learned how to program my own games which was fun and really rewarding. It was the start of my journey learning tools that could help me solve problems, like I do now with Excel.

• 2) What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  The internet, for sure. I loved it from the start, even with dial-up modems! A turning point? Who knows – I hope it stays free for all, there’s a danger of a two-tier system developing.
  
  The turning point seems to be here, with generative AI and agents. It’s very exciting but has more obvious reasons for concern, such as jobs, than the internet seemed to in the 1990s.
  
  It’s common to see social media posts about AI replacing Excel or experts. I’m experiencing the opposite – more very senior professionals are coming to me, for technical tuition tailored to the real business world, than ever. I’m also delighted to teach people AI in Excel if they’d like that too – it’s speeds-up the process but doesn’t remove the need for understanding – both on technical and business levels.

• 3) Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  I’ve got more than 20 years experience using spreadsheets, particularly Excel. Over the years at various jobs I’ve held, colleagues have often remarked that I love Excel a bit too much!!! I’ve always been the go-to person for help and I’ve always loved that too.
  
  Anyone learning Excel also learns how much more there is to learn – there’s whole sections of functionality that even very advanced users don’t use. And yet, I see tremendous value from even just from one hour with a beginner – it’s a wonderful aspect of Excel that a little knowledge goes a long way.
  
  Excel remains one of the most widely used pieces of software globally (over 750 million users), across virtually every industry. In job interviews I was usually asked about my Excel proficiency, so I finally made it official that I’m an Excel expert by passing the official Microsoft Excel Expert certification which is a proctored exam.

• 4) Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  For sure, anyone who has a demonstrable impact on the world from creating a business is inspiring. I have my favourites, such as Steve Jobs, whose return to Apple in the late 1990s magnified everything I believed about the Mac — the business community had dismissed it as a toy, but I was a champion of its graphical user interface an intuitive functionality. Over time that preference changed and now I’m often inspired by YouTubers demonstrating cutting-edge tech in their businesses. I like to be open-minded and learn the best tools for the job. With AI this is quite a challenge – the speed of new software production is scorching! It’s now possible to vibe-code a piece of software more quickly than downloading the application back in the days of dial-up modems!

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  At school I would find any rote-learning incredibly boring and switch off. Unless I could see the point, I wasn’t interested! I like Excel so much because you can do so much and solve so many problems – without being a computer programmer or picking up a huge manual to figure it out – you apply your familiar techniques and solve new problems with them. Magic!
  
  I always think about this when I’m tutoring. Keep it relevant, and demonstrate in a memorable way, why this is so cool. I remember a student who came to me wanting to learn shortcuts, but I soon showed him the magic of Power Query for processing his quarterly sales data. It was always 10 days work for each of the team members, but the process was perfect for automating – the solution saved them 400 days work per year and freed them up to do way more interesting work. I love win-wins!

• 6) What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  Slow down and take it one step at a time. You’ll get there.
  
  I apply the same thoughts to my jogging in the park when I’m getting out of breath!
  
  The same principle applies in every lesson I teach. I’m very mindful that everyone starts at the beginning when learning Excel, and that might be the case even if someone’s had a successful career for many years. This is because very few professionals have the luxury of structured Excel training. Everyone coming to me for help has learnt one task at a time and they often feel that the dots aren’t joined-up. Following through my structured approach — building core skills first, then connecting them logically — we join-up the dots and then reach new heights. This gives a lot of confidence as we’re using best-practices in Excel that I’ve learned over decades. There’s several benefits – accuracy, speed and more robust solutions that survive someone else updating the data!

• 7) What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  I love music. I learned piano when I was school-age and before I entered the world of business, I was a sound engineer and background music composer for television. Computers were always a key part of my journey and I had a natural interest in digital music production, later becoming proficient in ProTools and working with some great musicians. There is a relationship between the accuracy, mastering the tools available and collaborating, that I now apply to Excel and business.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  Well, as I mentioned, I see myself as an Excel business person with wide experience in software, not an I.T. person per se. For Excel specifically, I am a Microsoft-certified Excel Expert, so when asked I can legitimately say, “I’m an expert”! But that’s just the means to the end, which is leveraging my experience to share with students in an engaging and interactive environment, to help them become enthusiastic Excel business problem solvers.