How Scribe's Finance Team Sparked a Company-Wide Data Revolution

At Scribe, data transformation didn't come from where you'd expect. It wasn't led by the data team or mandated by the C-suite. It started with Sam Skinner, their Finance Lead—someone with zero technical background who became the company's most active Sigma user within months, outpacing even analysts and engineers by a factor of three.

This unlikely origin story tells you everything about how Scribe approaches data: pragmatically, democratically, and with remarkable results.

"Sam didn't just remove roadblocks—he laid new tracks entirely," says Nick from Scribe, describing the transformation that followed.

Because of his work, Sam is the winner of Sigma’s 2025 Data Culture Award. 

The cost of conflicting truths

Before Sigma, Scribe's data reality was painfully fragmented. Marketing tracked metrics one way. Sales tracked them another. Finance pulled reports manually—a process that could take days. Executive meetings relied on static PowerPoint decks that were outdated before anyone clicked "present."

The contradictions were constant. Marketing's funnel numbers didn't match Sales' pipeline reports. Finance's forecasts didn't align with Product's usage data. Teams weren't just working in silos—they were operating from fundamentally different versions of reality.

The company needed more than better dashboards. They needed a cultural shift in how they thought about and used data.

Decisions were delayed while teams debated whose numbers were right. GTM strategies were built on incomplete pictures. Investment decisions relied more on intuition than insight. For a fast-growing company like Scribe, these inefficiencies needed to be resolved—fast. 

The company needed more than better dashboards. They needed a cultural shift in how they thought about and used data.

Sigma: The platform that clicked

Scribe needed a tool to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical users—a platform that analysts could build in but that anyone could use.

Sigma's spreadsheet interface was the key. For Sam, it meant he could apply his existing Excel knowledge to work with warehouse-scale data. No SQL required. No engineering tickets. Just familiar formulas and functions, backed by the full power of Scribe's data infrastructure.

Scribe needed a tool to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical users—a platform that analysts could build in but that anyone could use. Sigma's spreadsheet interface was the key.

Within months, Sam had built comprehensive models spanning the entire business:

For Sales: Funnel conversion dashboards broken down by rep, channel, and stage—enabling targeted coaching and process improvements that drove measurable gains in SQL-to-close rates.

For Marketing: Multi-touch attribution models that finally answered the ROI question for every campaign and channel, fundamentally changing how demand gen budgets were allocated.

For Finance: Automated reporting on NRR, expansion revenue, and cohort analysis that replaced days of Excel work with real-time insights.

For Executives: A unified business dashboard combining revenue, usage, pipeline, and churn metrics—becoming the single source of truth for weekly leadership meetings and board presentations.

From individual excellence to organizational transformation

Sam's work in Sigma created a ripple effect throughout Scribe. When other teams saw the Finance Lead building sophisticated analyses without writing code, it shattered assumptions about who could work with data.

"Sigma is no longer a tool for analysts—it's a company-wide platform for decisions. That cultural shift started with Sam's example," Nick explains.

“Sigma is no longer a tool for analysts—it's a company-wide platform for decisions.”
_{- Nick, Scribe teammate}

But the deeper change was cultural. Marketing and Sales stopped arguing about whose funnel metrics were correct—they were looking at the same dashboard. Product could see usage patterns in real-time. Customer Success could track expansion signals before they became churn risks.

Every team was suddenly speaking the same data language.

The compound effect of accessible analytics

With operational improvements compounding over time, Sigma became one of Scribe’s most powerful data transformations yet. Every dashboard Sam built became a template others could learn from. Every analysis shared in Sigma taught someone else what was possible. Every data-driven decision reinforced the culture of measurement.

The platform's collaborative features accelerated this learning curve. Teams could explore Sam's analyses, ask questions directly in the worksheets, and build their own variations without starting from scratch. Knowledge transfer happened organically, through usage rather than training.

Debates shift from "whose numbers are right?" to "these are the numbers—what should we do about this?"

Scribe discovered that democratizing data access doesn't lead to chaos—it leads to clarity. When everyone can see the same metrics and explore the same data, alignment happens naturally. Debates shift from "whose numbers are right?" to "these are the numbers—what should we do about this?"

Building for scale, designed for humans

As Scribe continues to grow, their Sigma implementation scales with them. New team members can access relevant dashboards from day one. New data sources can be integrated without rebuilding existing reports. New questions can be answered without waiting for analyst availability.

The platform has become part of Scribe's competitive advantage. While competitors struggle with fragmented data and delayed insights, Scribe operates with unprecedented visibility across every function. They can spot trends faster, respond to changes quicker, and make decisions with greater confidence.

Sam Skinner's journey from Finance Lead to data champion proves a fundamental point: the best data transformations expand beyond technology. The best data transformations are about people. Give curious, capable individuals the right tools, and they'll shift not just their own work, but their entire organization.

Ready to build a data-driven culture at your organization? See how Sigma can help →

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