Microsoft
Excel was not originally created for data sharing, even
if it is often used that way. SharePoint, on the other hand,
was designed for collaboration from the beginning, and therefore
SharePoint has advantages that makes it more suitable for
data sharing than Excel.
in the slideshow demo below Peter Kalmström, CEO and Systems
Designer of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions, explains benefits
and drawbacks with the two Microsoft platforms.
SharePoint benefits
Peter mentions and explains these SharePoint list advantages
over Excel:
Editing
A SharePoint list does not get locked when someone is
editing it. An Excel file on a file server is locked
so that no one else can access it until the editing
is finished and the new version of the file has been
saved.
Versioning
SharePoint can show and restore earlier versions of
a list. Excel does not have a versioning feature, so
to have several versions of a file you have to give
them different names.
Alerts SharePoint
lists have an Alert feature, so that you can have an
automatic e-mail each time the list has been changed.
There are several different options for when this alert
should be sent. Excel does not have this possibility.
Independence
In a SharePoint list each item is independent from the
others, so that you can edit and lock each row (=item)
and set independent row permissions.
SharePoint drawbacks
Peter also warns about some SharePoint problems:
Portability
A SharePoint list cannot be transferred as easy as an
Excel file. (This might also be seen as a benefit!.
It is not always an advantage that you easily can share
an Excel file.)
Re-training and moving costs
If you already have your data in Excel, it will take
some time to move it to SharePoint. (In the next few
demos Peter will show how to do it in the best way,
see below.)
It is always easier to let people work as they have
always done!
5000 items list limit
Currently SharePoint Online has a list limitation of
5000 items. Therefore you have to split up the data
if it will give more than 5000 list items. (Another
option is to share the existing Excel file by uploading
it to a SharePoint library.)
More articles about moving Excel data to a SharePoint
list
Microsoft
Excel was not originally created for data sharing, even
if it is often used that way. SharePoint, on the other hand,
was designed for collaboration from the beginning, and therefore
SharePoint has advantages that makes it more suitable for
data sharing than Excel. 
SharePoint
lists have an Alert feature, so that you can have an
automatic e-mail each time the list has been changed.
There are several different options for when this alert
should be sent. Excel does not have this possibility.
