A critique about this discussion. below

My recommendation would be for your friend's business to switch from using Excel to using Microsoft Access. While Excel is a powerful tool for organizing and analyzing data, it is not well-suited for use as a database. Access, on the other hand, is a full-featured database management system that is specifically designed for storing, organizing, and manipulating large amounts of data.

There are several ways in which the business's needs can be addressed by switching to Access. First, Access has much stronger data management capabilities than Excel, including the ability to set up relationships between different tables of data and enforce data integrity. This will make it easier for your friend's business to organize and manage the large amounts of data they are generating as they grow.

Second, Access has a more intuitive interface than Excel, which will make it easier for your friend's employees to enter and retrieve data. This will save time and reduce the risk of errors.

Third, Access has robust security features that can be used to protect the data stored in the database. These features include the ability to set up user accounts and permissions, as well as the ability to encrypt data to protect it from unauthorized access.

To address security issues, you should recommend that your friend set up user accounts and permissions for each of their employees. This will allow them to control who has access to which parts of the database and ensure that only authorized users are able to make changes to the data. You should also recommend that they regularly back up their data to protect against data loss due to hardware failures or other unexpected events. Finally, you should encourage your friend to consider encrypting their data to further protect it from unauthorized access.