It’s especially important in data tables when coupled with tabular numbers (essentially mono spaced numbers) so you can e.g. bold a cell without having the thousands or decimal separators get out of alignment in a column of numbers. Spreadsheet programs use fonts with this property.
It's not really something special spreadsheet programs do or select for. It's just how basically all workhouse body typefaces operate, like Helvetica or Times New Roman or Calibri, precisely for the reason you list.
Which is why when IKEA chose it as their main branding font (in their print catalog, no less!) to replace Futura, there was such an outrage among graphic designers, as it was such a terrible choice. (IKEA no longer uses Verdana anymore though.)