How I Built a Demand Forecasting Data App That Teams Actually Use

Ian Reed, a solutions engineer at Sigma, describes his journey in creating a demand forecasting app to address the challenges of the traditional, spreadsheet-driven demand planning process, which is often tedious, error-prone, and requires collaboration among multiple stakeholders. By leveraging Sigma's capabilities, he developed an app that automates and streamlines demand planning, allowing users to create and modify scenarios in real-time, collaborate seamlessly, and maintain data integrity without the hassle of version control. Reed emphasizes the importance of breaking down the development process into manageable pieces, likening it to constructing a house, and highlights the app's ability to save time, increase efficiency, and build trust among teams by providing a single, up-to-date data source. He advises aspiring data app builders to start with their business process expertise and share their innovations to foster growth within the analytics community.