Two Data Leaders Chat About the Exciting Evolution of Data Analytics

It’s an exciting time to be in data analytics. We’ve seen a massive evolution in the modern data stack as organizations embrace the power of the cloud. Data warehouses were once a static place to hold data; now, they’re dynamic platforms with the potential to fuel real-time business decisions, growth, and innovation.

Aron Clymer, CEO and founder of Data Clymer, recently sat down with Rob Woollen, CTO and co-founder of Sigma, to talk about market trends, where things are heading, and how data professionals and organizations can realize the benefits of a modern data stack.

Getting Started: 3 Key Steps in Your Data Journey

To kick off the discussion, Aron highlighted three key steps in an organization’s data evolution and shared why he’s excited about the future.

“More and more will be done in the data warehouse as time goes on,” Aron said. “Data applications will be running directly on top of a data warehouse instead of running somewhere else and then integrating with the data warehouse. We see this really exciting evolution of the data warehouse increasingly being able to power everything you do at your organization.”

Related Article: 5 Critical Steps to a Successful Cloud Data Warehouse

What Does the Future Modern Data Stack Look Like?

Aron walked through a high-level overview of the future modern cloud data stack and discussed major elements like data ingestion, data modeling, master data management, and the emergence of new data apps.

Rob shared his perspective on the trends that are driving the evolution. “Businesses are signing up new apps all the time,” he noted. “There aren’t seven data sources; there are hundreds. The volume and speed of data is changing….This is forcing us to make a wholesale platform change.”

How a Cloud Data Warehouse Can Transform Your Business

Businesses can take advantage of new opportunities to gain a competitive advantage by using data applications and real-time insights. “The tables have been turned,” Aron noted. “The data warehouse is becoming more and more the centerpiece of an organization. Its business value is increasing exponentially.”

Rob added, “That’s what excites me about this data hero journey. Every company should have their new data applications. That’s what’s really going to change their business.”

Related Article: Data Apps to Power Your Business Directly from Your Cloud Data Warehouse

All Ships Rising: Powerful Technology Accessible to All Businesses

Advanced data capabilities used to be in the enterprise realm, accessible only to Fortune 500s and large companies. Now, they’re within reach for any business. Because the infrastructure and framework have already been built, organizations of all sizes can tap into the opportunities a cloud platform provides.

“The technology has been democratized and the infrastructure is available for everyone,” Aron said. “As a result, you can move and innovate quickly. This will probably lead to a huge wave of innovation around the data warehouse going forward.”

“It’s a classic example of all ships rising,” Rob noted. “With a few clicks, you can sign up a Snowflake, Sigma, Fivetran, or Matillion instance, and you’ve got a really powerful platform. It’s the same platform these large Fortune 10 companies are using, and it’s available to everyone.”

Real-World Examples

Rob and Aron discussed how organizations like The Big Ten Conference and MineralTree are helping their businesses thrive by tapping into the opportunities of a modern data stack.

“In two months, MineralTree built an entire data application on top of Sigma and Snowflake,” Rob explained. “They were able to have their customers working with billions of live rows of financial planning and accounts payable data. Traditionally, you’d have to aggregate the data and see monthly or daily summaries. They wanted a platform where they could actually work live with row-level data in a secure, governed fashion.”

The Big Ten uses a multi-tenant approach that gives dozens of schools secure access to sports and event data. “We can spin this kind of thing up in months, not years,” Aron noted.

Related Case Study: Unlocking Sports Data Analytics Innovation at the Big Ten Conference

Elevating Data Teams to Key Strategic Business Roles

Aron and Rob speculated that over the next ten years, we’ll see a rise of the data team becoming the one of the key strategic positions in a company.

“I encourage people to think about how they can switch from looking at data analytics, toward how they can operationally be part of the core of their company and use data in real time to change decisions,” Rob said. Data professionals should ask themselves questions like: What are the business processes I want to automate for my company? What are the changes and workflows I want to make happen?

Aron mused on the opportunities that can come from the growth team and data team working in lockstep and exploring creative ways to escalate the business and go faster with data.

“Look for data apps that are built right on top of the data warehouse and can solve a lot of the company’s important strategic and operational challenges,” Aron said. “That’s the power of working with live data.”

Embracing the Future

It’s clear that the ongoing evolution in data analytics unlocks a number of opportunities for businesses. To hear Aron and Rob talk about key benefits of a modern data stack approach, challenges and implications to consider, and predictions on the next generation of data applications.

You Might Also Like:

Be a Data Hero: 5 Critical Steps to Modernizing Your Data Stack

Be a Data Hero (Part 2): The Importance of Operational Analytics

Be a Data Hero (Part 3): Data Apps to Power Your Business Directly from Your Cloud Data Warehouse

Ready to Continue Your Data Journey?

If you have a cloud data warehouse but are struggling with how to best accelerate your data journey, our team at Data Clymer can help. We have helped many organizations like Charlotte’s Web, Kentik, and Wonderschool advance their data strategies and operationalize their data to better understand their customers and their business.