Sigma Blog Index

Busy doesn’t mean productive. Learn how to measure and improve your BI team’s data productivity to drive faster, clearer, and more actionable insights.

Learn how BI tools help meet CCRA data privacy mandates, from access and deletion to audit trails, without slowing down analytics teams or insights.

Learn how BI tools impact HIPAA compliance, including what features to look for, risks to avoid, and how to analyze PHI securely.

Discover how BI tools simplify SOX compliance by improving audit readiness, data transparency, and internal controls across your organization.

GDPR affects how data teams collect, store, and use personal data. Learn what it means for analytics and how to build compliant, ethical data practices.

Not all metrics are useful. Learn how to spot red flag metrics that mislead teams and how to replace them with ones that actually drive outcomes.

Sigma engineers built a custom DSL to make compiler testing faster, cleaner, and UI-free. Here’s how .wb files power thousands of reliable SQL tests.

Build a reusable analytics component library to speed up BI development, improve consistency, and empower self-service across your organization.

Outdated KPIs clog dashboards and confuse teams. Learn how to spot dead metrics, clean up your reporting, and focus on what actually drives decisions.

Data concierges are transforming how business teams access and use data-bridging the gap between analysts and decision-makers for faster insights.

Learn the key differences between data portals and data catalogs and why using the right tool (or both) is essential for data access, trust, and governance.

Even accurate data can fail. Learn why insights break down and how better timing, relevance, and storytelling turn analysis into action.

Choosing the right data org structure—centralized, embedded, federated, or hybrid—can make or break scale, speed, and alignment across teams.

On-prem BI isn’t just aging—it’s holding teams back. See why the smartest data leaders are leaving it behind and rethinking the stack from the ground up.

Sigma product evangelist Katrina Menne shares why she joined Sigma, what’s broken in BI, and how she’s helping data teams do more of the work that actually matters.

BI tools keep promising self-service—but most just create workarounds. Here’s what it really takes to support better, faster decisions across the business.

Conversational analytics lets anyone ask data questions in plain language, no SQL needed. Discover how it’s redefining access, speed, and insight in BI.

Discover how Complex Event Processing (CEP) unlocks real-time pattern detection to drive faster, smarter business decisions across industries.

SLAs are only as strong as the data behind them. Learn how trustworthy analytics ensures accountability, accuracy, and alignment across your business.

Tired of waiting on IT? Discover 5 powerful workflows you can automate with no-code data apps—directly in your BI tool, without writing a single ticket.

Query federation lets you analyze live data across systems—no copying, no delays. See how it enables faster, safer insights without moving your data.

RevOps teams need real-time, trusted data to drive revenue. Learn how modern BI tools unify CRM, finance, and sales insights without stale reports or silos.

Self-service BI without structure creates chaos. Learn the hidden costs and how to scale access, trust, and alignment with the right approach.

Unlock real-time data analytics: why it matters, what it means, and how companies use live insights to make faster, smarter decisions.

Data version conflicts silently erode trust, delay decisions, and inflate costs. Learn how to detect, prevent, and control them before they spiral.

KPIs track your big goals. Metrics explain what’s driving them. Learn the difference and how to use both to make smarter, faster business decisions.

Use Cron-based scheduling to automate analytics workflows with precision: delivering insights exactly when they’re needed, not just when it’s convenient.

A clear, documented data pipeline builds trust, reduces confusion, and helps teams make faster, more confident decisions with reliable, traceable insights.

Discover how AI-powered BI tools enable faster, smarter decisions in high-stakes operations like fraud detection and system reliability.

See how merchandisers use real-time retail analytics to adapt faster, personalize smarter, and make confident decisions in a volatile economy.

A clean data schema is the unsung hero of analytics, powering accurate reports, scalable insights, and confident self-serve exploration across teams.

Data analyst certifications can boost your career if you choose wisely. Learn which ones matter, how to pick the right fit, and how to make them work for you.

See the full story behind your data. Lineage visualization tools reveal data flow, build trust, and simplify compliance in today’s complex analytics stacks.

Tired of over-permissioned data? ABAC offers smarter, flexible access control that scales with your team, without sacrificing security or compliance.

Data apps are reshaping retail from real-time inventory to predictive insights, helping teams act faster and smarter where it matters most.

A well-managed data estate unifies systems, boosts analytics performance, and lays the groundwork for trustworthy, scalable BI and AI innovation.

Discover how Sigma designed a scalable, user-first semantic layer that redefines self-service analytics.

Statistical models reveal trends, predict outcomes, and guide smarter decisions: helping businesses move from reactive to proactive strategy.

Last-mile analytics delivers real-time, decision-ready insights to business users, bridging the gap between data and action without relying on IT.

VPNs aren’t enough to secure modern BI. Learn where they fall short and why zero-trust is essential for protecting cloud-native data environments.

Discover how Industry 4.0 uses smart data, IoT, and AI to transform operations, and how BI helps turn real-time insights into a competitive advantage.

Struggling to find and trust your data? A data catalog organizes metadata so teams can discover, understand, and use data with more speed and confidence.

Stop micromanaging permissions. RBAC simplifies access control by assigning roles, improving security, and scaling BI collaboration with less overhead.

Data traceability ensures accuracy, trust, and compliance by tracking where data comes from, how it's transformed, and how it's used in BI systems.

A true data-driven culture starts with people, not dashboards. Learn how to drive lasting change through leadership, training, and clear communication.

Analytics engineers are stuck in the middle. To stay relevant, you need to lean in—toward impact, ownership, and decisions that move the business.

End data chaos. Learn how to democratize data and AI across teams without silos, duplication, or losing control with governed, real-time access.

Use behavioral science to make your data reports more persuasive, trustworthy, and actionable by aligning with how people actually think and decide.

Master smarter text extraction techniques to turn messy, unstructured data into clean, actionable insights faster and with less manual cleanup.

You can now run Ask Sigma on the AI models available in Databricks or Snowflake. Plus, Ask Sigma’s new usage dashboard gives administrators visibility into how the agentic AI is used across the organization.

Turn spreadsheets into smarter decisions—learn how geospatial data visualizations unlock insights that traditional BI tools miss.

Discover how AI systems are structured in layers, from infrastructure to apps, and why this modular approach matters for business adoption and innovation.

Cloud tools run on servers, and server performance continues to shape analytics speed, uptime, and trust. Here’s why infrastructure still matters in the cloud era.

Understand why DTL is key to clean, trustworthy data and better BI. Learn how it shapes, standardizes, and powers decision-ready insights.

AutoML is reshaping BI by automating machine learning tasks—helping teams unlock predictive insights faster, even without data science expertise.

Data lakehouses blend the scale of data lakes with the structure of warehouses: powering modern, flexible analytics for BI, AI, and real-time workloads.

ELT simplifies modern analytics by loading raw data first, then transforming it in the cloud, enabling agility, scalability, and faster decision-making.

Data errors are inevitable, but costly only if ignored. Learn how to spot, fix, and prevent them to keep your analytics accurate and your team confident.

Learn how to give clear, constructive feedback on analytics reports without tension to drive better decisions and build stronger data collaboration.

Even honest charts can mislead. Learn common graph mistakes (like bad axes, cherry-picked data, and chart junk) and how to design visuals that build trust.

Sigma is recognized by the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for BI Platforms—hear what it means, why it matters, and what’s next from Product Evangelist Luke Stanke.

Stipo Josipovic, Sigma’s Senior Director of Product Management, shares real-time notes from the floor—what people said, noticed, and remembered.

Encryption at rest protects stored data from breaches and misuse. Learn how it works and why it’s essential for secure, compliant workflows.

Learn the key differences between rows and columns, how they’re used in analytics tools, and tips to organize and analyze data more effectively.

Design charts everyone can understand. Learn how to make colorblind-friendly visuals that boost clarity, accessibility, and impact without sacrificing style.

C-suite leaders need more than dashboards. They need real-time, actionable insights that align analytics with strategy, decision-making, and growth. Learn how here.

Sigma is Databricks' 2025 BI Partner of the Year. Explore new integrations, AI features, and what it means for teams building on the lakehouse.

An operational data layer unifies fragmented systems, powering real-time analytics and consistent insights across your business.

Saying yes can speed up your career—but learning when to say no is what makes you a better engineer. Here’s how thoughtful trade-offs and focus drive real impact at Sigma.

Composable analytics = modern BI. Learn how modular, interoperable tools are replacing outdated stacks for faster, more flexible data workflows.

Data marts offer fast, focused insights for business teams—learn when they’re the right choice and how they fit into today’s modern data architecture.

Too much data slows you down. Learn how to choose the right data sources that align with your goals, reduce noise, and drive smarter business decisions.

Discover how distributed ledger technology (DLT) strengthens trust, transparency, and collaboration in modern business intelligence workflows.

Uncover hidden inefficiencies and boost data quality with a strategic data analytics audit that drives real business impact, not just technical fixes.

Heading to Databricks Summit? Don’t waste time wandering. Meet the people and sessions that actually matter—so you can get smart on AI, fast.

Define metrics once—use them everywhere. With Sigma + Snowflake Semantic Views, your business logic lives in the warehouse and powers every decision.

Query documents, images, and raw text using SQL—no prompts, no pipelines. With Cortex AISQL, Snowflake and Sigma make unstructured data usable, governed, and fully in flow.

This guide connects real-world challenges to the Sigma sessions, speakers, and conversations that can help you solve them—fast.

This is your unofficial guide to cutting through hype, asking sharper questions, and spotting real AI in the wild.

Discover how Sigma’s RADAR system detects issues early, prioritizes impact, and delivers support before tickets are even filed.

Data mesh and self-service analytics both decentralize data and empower domain teams. Learn why uniting them is key to scaling trusted insights at enterprise scale.

Real-time data concurrency empowers faster, trusted decision-making at scale. Learn how to support it across teams without adding friction or IT overhead.

Broken data lineage quietly erodes trust, delays insights, and exposes you to risk. Learn how to detect it early and fix it before it costs you.

Discover how serverless analytics redefines data governance, compliance, and security in modern enterprises—and what it means for your data strategy.

Power embedded analytics with strong APIs. Learn how thoughtful API design drives faster insights, better decisions, and secure, scalable data experiences.

Careful rollout is key to a healthy data ecosystem. Learn how to avoid common mistakes with phased launches, testing, change management, and performance monitoring.

Design a future-ready data ecosystem with smart technical choices. Learn best practices for integration, modeling, security, scalability, and resilience.

Strategic planning is the key to building a scalable, trusted data ecosystem. Learn how to align business goals, integrate data, and set success metrics.

Outdated tools stall supply chains. Sigma powers real-time collaboration, live scenario modeling, and action—right where decisions happen.

Explore Sigma’s Spring 2025 Showcase: The unified interface to your AI, Apps, and Analytics. Embed AI, give customers data apps, operationalize machine learning, and more.

Escape outdated cube workflows. Discover how modern teams run real-time, flexible analysis at scale with Sigma and cloud data platforms.

Empower business users and data teams with governed, AI-ready analytics using Sigma’s flexible, reusable data models. Scale insights without the overhead.

Discover how Celebal builds scalable, user-first data apps on Sigma to replace spreadsheets and streamline enterprise planning across industries.

How Sigma instrumented collaborative edit patterns to investigate UX friction, validate signal thresholds, and guide engineering investment—without overbuilding.

Learn why natural language UIs fail most users—and how Sigma designed an AI you can actually trust.

Heatmaps turn raw data into instant insight, revealing trends, patterns, and outliers in a visual format that’s easy to read and act on. Learn more here.

Not all “cloud” tools are created equal. Learn how to spot cloud-washing and choose truly cloud-native BI for speed, scale, and future-ready analytics.

A well-defined BI Product Owner role bridges business and data teams, driving better decisions, stronger governance, and real results from analytics initiatives.

Too many dashboards, not enough clarity? Learn how to combat data fatigue with smarter design, curated insights, and intentional data habits.

Green data is the future. Learn how to reduce your analytics’ environmental impact with smarter queries, leaner models, and energy-efficient data stacks.