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SEPT 10
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We finance everything from customers walking into dealerships to the inventory that dealers need on their showroom floors.
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
Before adopting Sigma, Yamaha Motor Finance ran on a patchwork of Excel spreadsheets and email-based reporting. Users across the organization would send requests to a central inbox hoping for a data pull. Sometimes a report would arrive in a day. Other times, it took five. And often, the answers were inconsistent.
This chaos didn’t just create workflow issues—it directly impacted the business. Customer support teams struggled to confirm the status of applications. Leadership lacked visibility into application volumes. And the data team was inundated with one-off requests.
It was very tough to do business. People couldn't verify anything easily. Everyone had doubts about the data.
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
“It was very tough to do business. People couldn't verify anything easily. Everyone had doubts about the data—even executive management would ask, ‘Did we really do 100 applications today? Or did we do 50?” recalled Sivaramakrishnan.
As the company scaled, the need for governed, self-service analytics became unavoidable.
With Sigma’s pivot tables, input tables, and writeback functionality, Yamaha Motor Finance has rebuilt its core financial workflows—without compromising flexibility or governance.
Financial analysts can now adjust assumptions in real time—tweaking inputs and instantly seeing the downstream impact. The team still has the flexibility they enjoyed in Excel, but with enterprise-grade governance and speed. As Sivaramakrishnan explained, “Not that they couldn’t do that in Excel—they can. But now it’s governed, scalable, and still that Excel-like experience.”
“Now it’s governed, scalable, and still that Excel-like experience.”
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
Sigma has also replaced legacy Access databases that were once common across the finance team. These older systems created governance issues and slowed down workflows. Today, Snowflake and Sigma work together to power secure, flexible applications that are faster and easier to maintain.
When it came time to modernize, Sigma stood out. For a financial services business full of Excel-savvy users, Sigma’s familiar spreadsheet interface was a game changer.
You can pretty much do any kind of FP&A or Access-style application using Sigma.
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
“We definitely needed something to give that comfort to people—like, ‘Hey, this is very spreadsheet-like to work with.’ Not a crazy dashboard tool where you need so much IT help,” said Sivaramakrishnan.
Beyond usability, Sigma checked every box on Yamaha’s evaluation scorecard: governed data access, seamless Snowflake integration, and a powerful platform for analysis. Unlike other tools that required a lot of upfront work to prep and clean data, Sigma allowed the team to query and analyze live data without delays—making better use of both time and infrastructure.
Yamaha Motor Finance is in the early stages of expanding a new class of internal tools: data apps built directly in Sigma. These apps are designed to streamline financial workflows that previously relied on manual processes or legacy systems like Microsoft Access. By leveraging Sigma’s input tables, warehouse views, and link tables, the team is building dynamic tools that live entirely within their cloud environment.
We’re starting to build data apps that replace Access databases and enable full financial workflows—inside Sigma.
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
“We’re starting to build data apps that replace Access databases and enable full financial workflows—inside Sigma,” said Sivaramakrishnan. One early proof of concept is a reconciliation tool for the accounting team. Another is a promotional planning app that supports “what if” modeling for sales incentives and forecasting. These prototypes demonstrate how Sigma can extend beyond reporting to power interactive, governed workflows across the business.
He added, “You can pretty much do any kind of FP&A or Access-style application using Sigma. All of it is rooted in input tables, warehouse views, and link tables.”
Today, Yamaha Motor Finance has migrated multiple departments to Sigma. Users now access data directly—no emails, no waiting. Analysts and business users can start their day with live data at their fingertips instead of waiting for a manual report.
“The platform has made it so easy for users to do the real work now.”
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
“The platform has made it so easy for users to do the real work now. If you’re a financial analyst, you can go do your analysis and come up with whatever models you want to do,” said Sivaramakrishnan.
That shift has unlocked new levels of productivity. Financial analysts are focused on analysis and modeling instead of chasing data. The data team, meanwhile, can prioritize innovation—building new data apps rather than spending time on routine maintenance.
Meanwhile, the data team is free to focus on innovation—like building new data apps.
“Just basic data management should not be someone’s day-in, day-out work. That all happens on the platform now,” said Sivaramakrishnan.
Even executive leadership has embraced the change. In leadership meetings, dashboards and applications built in Sigma are now the default source of truth. Executives simply open Sigma and review live data—no prep, no static slides. This real-time visibility allows leadership to quickly identify priorities and take immediate action.
Yamaha Motor Finance is thinking big. With over 150 out of 200 employees already using Sigma—and Sigma champions embedded across departments—the team is working toward full organizational adoption. From Treasury and Retail Lending to FP&A and Sales Ops, Sigma is becoming the enterprise standard.
Our vision is that everyone has access to live, trusted data. And Sigma makes that possible.
— Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Group Manager, Tech and Data Platforms
“Our vision is that everyone—analysts, managers, executives—has access to live, trusted data. And Sigma makes that possible,” said Sivaramakrishnan. That vision is rapidly becoming reality as more teams rely on Sigma for everything from exploratory analysis to executive decision-making.
Looking ahead, Sigma is set to play a critical role in unifying Yamaha’s global financial operations. As teams across regions begin collaborating more closely, a centralized, governed data platform becomes essential. Sigma provides a shared interface across cloud environments and departments, enabling teams to analyze and act on consistent data in real time.
“As we go through some organizational changes, I see Sigma as a big win for the global team,” said Sivaramakrishnan. “Whether someone has data in Snowflake, Databricks, or something else—Sigma can help unify it all.”
Read more about financial analysis in Sigma.
