About Sphormic Solutions
Thoughtful, practical improvement, delivered with clarity and care
Sphormic Solutions was created to help organisations work more effectively, starting with the spreadsheets they already rely on. I specialise in streamlining the everyday processes that quietly drain time, energy, and accuracy – the tedious copying and pasting, the manual workarounds, and the struggle with convoluted, bulky files.
Many teams know their processes are inefficient or fragile, but meaningful change is often postponed. Daily responsibilities take priority, and it can be unclear how to move forward or even what is possible with the tools already in place.
Sphormic Solutions exists to bridge that gap.
My Background
I’m Susie Halcrow, the founder of Sphormic Solutions.
I have over 20 years of experience working in the fast-moving world of finance, data, and systems. My career began in management accounting roles and evolved through system implementations, process redesign, and a wide range of project and interim contracts across various organisations and sectors.
As my work increasingly involved stepping back from “business-as-usual” activity, I became drawn to understanding why processes worked the way they did, and how they could work better. That curiosity led me to invest the time to develop the technical know-how to tackle inefficiency head-on. Alongside my finance background, I have built strong capability across everything from modern Excel and Power Query to VBA, SQL, Python, and other data and automation tools.
That blend of financial insight and technical expertise is now at the heart of Sphormic Solutions. It allows me to diagnose issues and simplify data flows. It means I can design solutions that are not only effective, but also realistic for teams to adopt, and I can share essential knowledge so those improvements continue long after the project ends.
Why Spreadsheets?
Spreadsheets are often seen as temporary or sub-optimal tools, yet, in reality, they underpin critical work in many organisations.
The Risks
When spreadsheets are poorly structured or heavily manual, they:
- Consume large amounts of time
- Are difficult to maintain or scale
- Introduce hidden risks and errors
- Become a single point of failure
The Opportunity
In many cases, the issue isn’t the tool itself. When they’re designed thoughtfully and make use of the capabilities already available within the software, spreadsheets can become powerful, flexible, and reliable assets rather than a source of frustration.
My goal is to unlock that potential, using modern functionality where it adds value, with a clear understanding of business context and real-world constraints.
The Sphormic Approach
Simply put, it’s a considered approach to change: solutions that are practical, scalable, and genuinely helpful.
I believe the best progress comes from focused, manageable steps rather than overwhelming overhauls:
- Understand: Forming a clear picture of how the team operates today.
- Identify: Pinpointing “quick wins” that offer the highest impact for the lowest effort.
- Reshape: Delivering incremental updates that boost morale and create sustainable results.
My style is collaborative, analytical, and grounded in real-world experience. I combine technical expertise, business understanding, and a pragmatic, problem-solving mindset to design solutions that teams can understand, maintain, and use with confidence.
The aim is always the same: leave things working better than before by freeing up time, reducing friction, and building momentum.
Working Together
Engagements are designed to be flexible and proportionate. This might involve:
- A brief review to identify opportunities for improvement
- A focused piece of work addressing a specific issue
- A series of incremental changes over time
- Ad-hoc advisory support
I enjoy working collaboratively with clients and tailoring solutions to fit their organisation, priorities, and ways of working. My goal is always to deliver meaningful outcomes without disrupting day-to-day work.
If you would like to explore what that could look like for your organisation, I’d be happy to have an initial conversation.