Sigma Computing Debuts New Features that Balance Control and Access, Enabling Anyone to Explore Data Safely and Securely

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma Computing, an innovator in cloud analytics and business intelligence (A&BI), today announced a slate of product features that, together, unlock the ability for anyone at an organization to explore and analyze data, while the data team maintains control over the data and its integrity. Modeling, lineage, and new point-to-point sharing capabilities create a single source of truth for entire organizations and make it easy to share the right data with the right people, turning it into an invaluable, self-service BI resource that drives decisions in real-time.

According to Gartner, "in the 2019 analytics and BI Magic Quadrant customer reference survey, the modern analytics and BI adoption rate is at 35%." ¹

"Every organization wants to be data-driven, but to truly be data-driven, we believe employees can't be limited to pre-built dashboards and reports with historical data," said Sigma Computing Co-founder and CEO Rob Woollen." Every employee must have secure, controlled, and real-time access to data, in a format that isn't intimidating and allows them to do their own analysis. Sigma bridges the huge gap between the power data holds and the teams who need it by empowering them to run, what would be complex queries in any other tool, in Sigma without needing to learn SQL code."

Sigma's new features prioritize direct interactions and explorations with a familiar, spreadsheet-like interface built from the perspective of the teams querying the data. Each of these capabilities plays a role in the data flow process by ensuring data integrity and security, while making it easy for anyone, regardless of their skill set, to build on the work of others, analyze data, and discover insights without ever having to write a single line of code.

"A user interface that is approachable, human-centered, and familiar is the pathway to having more voices enter the data conversation. As data becomes a thread that is woven through business decisions across departments, everyone needs to have real access," commented Sigma VP of Product Design Julie Lemieux. "Our new features break down the walls to data analytics and make business intelligence approachable to anyone who has questions that data can answer. Sigma enables companies to harness the power of collective intelligence, while simultaneously maintaining governance, compliance, and data integrity."

Sigma and its customers are rewriting the rules of A&BI to empower teams across entire organizations to join the data conversation. Customers like Zumper, Olivela, and Blue Bottle Coffee, all use Sigma for data exploration to generate real-time insights. Zumper decreased average query time from 38 minutes to 38 seconds, Olivela cut dashboard creation time from three weeks to just two hours, and Blue Bottle increased pastry order accuracy by eight percent, supporting the company's commitment to environmental health and goal to achieve zero waste in all U.S. cafes this year.

Engage with Data in Powerful New Ways
Sigma's visual data modeling was first announced in June 2019, along with its SQL Runner and one-click Snowflake integration. This feature provides a single, collaborative environment for both data analysts and domain experts that is secure and governed in cloud data warehouses (CDW). Data modeling defines how data is related, what it means, and how it flows together. An effective model makes data more approachable and consumable so that business users know they are using the right information in the right context.

Sigma's modeling capability allows data teams to easily build centralized data definitions and provide curated starting points for business leaders and domain experts. Data analysts and admins can build datasets using SQL or Sigma's user-friendly interface in minutes, eliminating the need for any coding languages. Meanwhile, teams in every corner of the organization benefit from instant access to trusted data sources and consistent metrics that provide business context for faster, more informed decisions.

Ensuring Data Can Be Trusted
The lineage feature provides a window into datasets past and present so it is clear where the data comes from and who has touched the data at any given time before it is queried. Knowing the source of any data is important for trusting the data and the downstream visualizations a business team might use to make real-time decisions.

The graphical view of upstream and downstream dependencies for datasets provides a system of governance, compliance, and overall data quality built into the system. Users can automatically understand data relationships and data genesis. When multiple people and groups within an organization are accessing data, it is important that regulation and compliance remain priorities and that the data explored and used can be trusted.

Point-to-Point Sharing
Point-to-point sharing provides shared access to data in worksheets and dashboards using a Google Drive-like interface. Worksheets and dashboards need to be dynamic and easy to share so that team members can build off of each other's work, which reduces the time wasted on duplicating work, expedites the time to insight, and increases the potential for new discoveries to be made.

¹ Gartner, "The Use of Augmented Analytics to Improve Analytics and BI Adoption in Low Maturity Organizations," Julie Sun, Joao Tapadinhas, 9 August 2019.

ABOUT SIGMA
Sigma is analytics built for the cloud. Trusted by data-first companies, Sigma provides live access to cloud data warehouses using an intuitive, spreadsheet-like interface— empowering business experts to ask more of their data without writing a single line of code. With the full power of SQL, the cloud, and a familiar interface, business users have the freedom to analyze data in real-time without limits. Sigma puts everyone on the same data-driven team. To learn more about Sigma, visit www.sigmacomputing.com or join the conversation on Twitter @SigmaComputing.

Media Contact
Rebecca Garcia
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