Traditional BI is Dead; Long Live Sigma!
August 24, 2022
Traditional BI is Dead; Long Live Sigma!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Sigma Computing
I use Sigma along with the rest of the Data Team to design dashboards and derive key insights for several internal teams at our company. Sigma makes the insights discovery process much, much easier due to its ability to perform easy calculations via more Excel-centric language rather than custom SQL. While custom SQL is a powerful skill, I have found it is easier to assist stakeholders in using data/dashboards when they do not have to use SQL to find them.
- Create custom datasets without the need for SQL.
- Easily manipulate/transform workbooks using Excel-like language.
- Fast calculations with much lower wait time for data to load or be transformed.
- When writing custom SQL, there should be an option to merely call the database at the beginning without having to do so throughout the query (similar to Snowflake).
- Sigma should allow uploads of .kml files.
- Make it flexible so that there are more ways to resize workbook elements.
- Sigma has helped us create efficiencies by allowing stakeholders to derive insights on their own without data analyst assistance with custom SQL.
- The process of creating and reconfiguring datasets is an easier process than Tableau.
- I have noticed certain calculations run a lot faster in Sigma, which may be due to those calculations running inside of Sigma rather than the database.
Do you think Sigma Computing delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Sigma Computing's feature set?
Yes
Did Sigma Computing live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Sigma Computing go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Sigma Computing again?
Yes
For business users who are not on the Data/Engineering Team, Sigma has been exceptionally good at allowing them to use Excel-like language to find insights. I may have mentioned this already, but this is a time saver for business intelligence engineers/data analysts. The fewer time data team members have to spend custom querying information that's already viewable in a worked format (workbook), the more time we can devote to much higher priority tasks. Sigma hasn't really enabled a newer ability for us to make business decisions, as we already have a robust data collection and database process in place. We have used other BI tools in the past, which means we were already able to make business decisions using data, but Sigma has at least made this process faster.
Depending on one's level of permissions, Sigma will allow stakeholders to do a "drill down" analysis. This empowers users to take the initiative in searching for insights into data they may be already familiar with but not sure how to access what they need. In addition, the drill down option also includes the ability for data analysts/bi analysts to create custom drill down controls. My only experience with iterative work in Sigma has been using the lookups. The learning curve for how to use this was a bit steep at first but is very useful. I use the lookups in addition to SQL joins. Lookups are easier because they do not require custom SQL editing when wanting to change.
Sigma is like a unique combination of Excel and Tableau, in my experience. It combines both the heavy-duty data wrangling and data manipulation abilities of Tableau with the quickness and ease of use that Excel is known for having. I have relied on Excel a lot less now for ad hoc work since using Sigma, as I can just easily get what I need from Sigma rather than having to open it in Excel. We still have one minor data source that I use to download CSVS from and work into Excel as needed, but this is rare.