Sigma Launches Next-Generation Analytics for Cloud Data Warehouses

New Business Intelligence Solution Has Familiar Spreadsheet-Like Interface that Gives Business Experts the Power to Ask Any Question of Their Data

Sigma Computing announced a better way for people to explore and understand data stored in cloud data warehouses. Sigma provides live, interactive access to Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift and other cloud data warehouses with a spreadsheet-like visual interface. Business experts analyze data directly without SQL or BI tool expertise performing even the most complex queries.

“Business intelligence vendors say they give data analytics access to everyone, and what they really do is provide a dashboard view. Dashboards do not equal data or intelligence,” said Rob Woollen, CEO and co-founder of Sigma Computing. “Our customers tell us that Sigma turns everyone in an organization into a data user — resulting in better and faster business decisions.”

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Everyone Speaks Sigma
Despite billions of dollars invested in data analytics tools in recent years, two-thirds of people still use Microsoft Excel to manipulate data. Sigma aims to change that with a better cloud analytics solution. It puts the power of the data warehouse in the hands of business experts, enabling them to take control of their data. This is achieved with four primary tenets:

• Built for the Cloud – Sigma takes advantage of the instant and infinite scale of modern cloud data warehouses. This helps people get fast answers to the most difficult questions. And Sigma runs 100% in your browser and connects directly to the cloud warehouse, where the data is secure, managed, and fresh.
• Freedom to Explore – Sigma’s familiar spreadsheet-like interface helps business experts solve problems without technical help—enabling them to explore their data conversationally, discovering answers to their questions and diving into new questions as they arise. Teams can be up and running in minutes and quickly access data from multiple data sources, shape the data in a visual interface, and apply formulas, all while the application creates the SQL necessary in real-time.
• Analytical Depth – Almost all business questions require complex SQL, which can be a nightmare to write by hand. With Sigma, users gain access to 99% of SQL functionality and the flexibility to conduct deep analysis across large diverse datasets, including semi-structured data like JSON. Sigma’s interface builds queries faster and more reliably than any human and provides immediate visual results without technical SQL skills.
• Team Empowerment – Sigma closes the gap between data professionals and business experts—which means more people leveraging data to make better decisions. It enables data teams to focus on analytical deep dives and strategic initiatives escaping the endless report feedback loop. Business experts make their own discoveries or start from shared worksheets and models built by others. By opening up access, and inviting more participation, teams become more data-guided and collaborative.

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“Sigma is like working in Excel with the power of Snowflake—giving our business experts at Lime access to the compute power of the cloud but with the freedom they’d get from a spreadsheet,” says Aash Anand from Lime’s data team. “Sigma opens up the true value of our data, and leveled up the conversation from, ‘Where can I find this?’ to, ‘Can you review this with me?’ It really is next-generation BI for cloud data.”

Sigma was founded by Rob Woollen and Jason Frantz while Entrepreneurs in Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures. While advising on Snowflake, another Sutter Hill investment, and working with Mike Speiser, the managing director at the firm, the group recognized that Snowflake was transforming the data warehouse space and knew business intelligence technology had to evolve with it.

“The market opportunities I witnessed first with Pure Storage, and then with Snowflake, are just as evident with Sigma,” said Mike Speiser, founding CEO of Pure Storage and Snowflake. “Sigma is not just another BI tool. Their approach, going all in on the cloud data warehouse, coupled with a focus on an approachable interface for all business users, is working big time.”

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