Re: Yeah, there are reasons people use Excel.
"I've seen people working in many big companies whose job was to export data to Excel and automate Excel so someone else could access those data and manipulate them. The, sometimes, they had to re-import everything into the database. If it could have some sense in the pre-Internet era, now it's completely crazy."
No, it makes sense.. Like you don't want to connect a server straight to the Interwebs, without any form of security buffer, you do not want the ham-fisted chairwarmers interact directly with your live, crucially important, database. You give them Excel sheets tailored to whatever-they-want-to-play-around-with-this-time, and only import the data after thorough checking.
Yes, it's entirely possible to tailor a large DB to make this possible, even with proper fail-safes. However the likes of SAP charge an arm and a leg, plus your firstborn, to even change a line on a screen, let alone configure the user-end of a DB like that. And you have to use their Experts, as per contract, at extortionate rates, or else....
Having a PFY whip out tailored Excel sheets for import/export to the various departments is much, much cheaper and ultimately more effective, given the tendency of Manglement to want to Tweak Stuff every other day/replacement/promotion.