The AI landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, with new capabilities emerging quarterly that redefine what's possible. For professionals across industries, this creates a constant need to reassess workflows and skills. How do you stay relevant when the technology keeps leapfrogging itself? What happens to traditional roles when AI can increasingly handle complex tasks that once required specialized expertise? With product-market fit becoming a moving target and new positions like forward-deployed engineers emerging, understanding how to navigate this shifting terrain is crucial. The winners won't just be those who adopt AI—but those who can continuously adapt as it evolves. Tomasz Tunguz is a General Partner at Theory Ventures, a $235m early-stage venture capital firm. He blogs at tomtunguz.com & co-authored Winning with Data. He has worked or works with Looker, Kustomer, Monte Carlo, Dremio, Omni, Hex, Spot, Arbitrum, Sui & many others. He was previously the product manager for Google's social media monetization team, including the Google-MySpace partnership, and managed the launches of AdSense into six new markets in Europe and Asia. Before Google, Tunguz developed systems for the Department of Homeland Security at Appian Corporation. In the episode, Richie and Tom explore the rapid investment in AI, the evolution of AI models like Gemini 3, the role of AI agents in productivity, the shifting job market, the impact of AI on customer success and product management, and much more. Links Mentioned in the Show: Theory VenturesConnect with TomTom’s BlogGavin Baker on MediumAI-Native Course: Intro to AI for WorkRelated Episode: Data & AI Trends in 2024, with Tom Tunguz, General Partner at Theory VenturesRewatch RADAR AI  New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

Today, we’re joined by Mark Walker, CEO of Nue, an easy-to-manage, omni-channel quote-to-revenue platform that meets the needs of businesses looking to innovate and manage their customer revenue lifecycles end-to-end. We talk about:

The best people to design software other than computer science gradsExpertise is dead, but experience isn't – and what impacts this hasThe deflationary impact of AI model improvementsPredictions for the pricing structure of AI modelsHow large AI companies will start taking a page out of Amazon's book

Tristan talks with Mikkel Dengsøe, co-founder at SYNQ, to break down what agentic coding looks like in analytics engineering. Mikkel walks through a hands-on project using Cursor, the dbt MCP server, Omni's AI assistant, and Snowflake. They cover where agents shine (staging, unit tests, lineage-aware checks), where they're risky (BI chat for non-experts), and how observability is shifting from dashboards to root-cause explanations. For full show notes and to read 6+ years of back issues of the podcast's companion newsletter, head to https://roundup.getdbt.com. The Analytics Engineering Podcast is sponsored by dbt Labs.

Product managers for BI platforms have it easy. They "just" need to have the dev team build a tool that gives all types of users access to all of the data they should be allowed to see in a way that is quick, simple, and clear while preventing them from pulling data that can be misinterpreted. Of course, there are a lot of different types of users—from the C-level executive who wants ready access to high-level metrics all the way to the analyst or data scientist who wants to drop into a SQL flow state to everyone in between. And sometimes the tool needs to provide structured dashboards, while at other times it needs to be a mechanism for ad hoc analysis. Maybe the product manager's job is actually…impossible? Past Looker CAO and current Omni CEO Colin Zima joined this episode for a lively discussion on the subject! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

The modern data stack has transformed how organizations work with data, but are our BI tools keeping pace with these changes? As data schemas become increasingly fluid and analysis needs range from quick explorations to production-grade reporting, traditional approaches are being challenged. How can we create analytics experiences that accommodate both casual spreadsheet users and technical data modelers? With semantic layers becoming crucial for AI integration and data governance growing in importance, what skills do today's BI professionals need to master? Finding the balance between flexibility and governance is perhaps the greatest challenge facing data teams today. Colin Zima is the Co-Founder and CEO of Omni, a business intelligence platform focused on making data more accessible and useful for teams of all sizes. Prior to Omni, he was Chief Analytics Officer and VP of Product at Looker, where he helped shape the product and data strategy leading up to its acquisition by Google for $2.6 billion. Colin’s background spans roles in data science, analytics, and product leadership, including positions at Google, HotelTonight, and as founder of the restaurant analytics startup PrimaTable. He holds a degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University and began his career as a Structured Credit Analyst at UBS. In the episode, Richie and Colin explore the evolution of BI tools, the challenges of integrating casual and rigorous data analysis, the role of semantic layers, and the impact of AI on business intelligence. They discuss the importance of understanding business needs, creating user-focused dashboards, and the future of data products, and much more. Links Mentioned in the Show: OmniConnect with ColinSkill Track: Design in Power BIRelated Episode: Self-Service Business Intelligence with Sameer Al-Sakran, CEO at MetabaseRegister for RADAR AI - June 26 New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

In this episode of Hub & Spoken, Jason Foster speaks with Colin Zima, CEO and Co-founder of Omni, a modern business intelligence platform that combines the best of governance and usability. With a background spanning roles at Looker and Google, and two decades as both a data user and builder, Colin brings a unique perspective on the evolution of BI and the real role of AI in shaping its future. They explore why business intelligence remains critical for aligning organisations, how AI is raising the bar for access and self-service, and why semantics and business logic are more important than ever. The conversation challenges the notion that AI will replace dashboards, and instead focuses on how it can enhance accessibility, support different user needs, and empower data teams to work more efficiently. This episode is essential listening for business and data leaders thinking about the future of BI, the practical use of AI, and the role data teams play in delivering real value at speed. Tune in to hear how modern BI is evolving, and what leaders need to know to stay ahead. ****    Cynozure is a leading data, analytics and AI company that helps organisations to reach their data potential. It works with clients on data and AI strategy, data management, data architecture and engineering, analytics and AI, data culture and literacy, and data leadership. The company was named one of The Sunday Times' fastest-growing private companies in both 2022 and 2023 and recognised as The Best Place to Work in Data by DataIQ in 2023 and 2024. Cynozure is a certified B Corporation. 

Jamie Davidson (Chief Product Officer at Omni, Former VP of Product at Looker) joins me to chat about "modern" data modeling, going from a startup to Google and back to a startup, and much more.

Omni: https://omni.co/

As we look back at 2024, we're highlighting some of our favourite episodes of the year, and with 100 of them to choose from, it wasn't easy! The four guests we'll be recapping with are: Lea Pica - A celebrity in the data storytelling and visualisation space. Richie and Lea cover the full picture of data presentation, how to understand your audience, how to leverage hollywood storytelling and more. Out December 19.Alex Banks - Founder of Sunday Signal. Adel and Alex cover Alex’s journey into AI and what led him to create Sunday Signal, the potential of AI, prompt engineering at its most basic level, chain of thought prompting, the future of LLMs and more. Out December 23.Don Chamberlin - The renowned co-inventor of SQL. Richie and Don explore the early development of SQL, how it became standardized, the future of SQL through NoSQL and SQL++ and more. Out December 26.Tom Tunguz - general Partner at Theory Ventures, a $235m VC firm. Richie and Tom explore trends in generative AI, cloud+local hybrid workflows, data security, the future of business intelligence and data analytics, AI in the corporate sector and more. Out December 30. Rapid change seems to be the new norm within the data and AI space, and due to the ecosystem constantly changing, it can be tricky to keep up. Fortunately, any self-respecting venture capitalist looking into data and AI will stay on top of what’s changing and where the next big breakthroughs are likely to come from. We all want to know which important trends are emerging and how we can take advantage of them, so why not learn from a leading VC.  Tomasz Tunguz is a General Partner at Theory Ventures, a $235m early-stage venture capital firm. He blogs sat tomtunguz.com & co-authored Winning with Data. He has worked or works with Looker, Kustomer, Monte Carlo, Dremio, Omni, Hex, Spot, Arbitrum, Sui & many others. He was previously the product manager for Google's social media monetization team, including the Google-MySpace partnership, and managed the launches of AdSense into six new markets in Europe and Asia. Before Google, Tunguz developed systems for the Department of Homeland Security at Appian Corporation.  In the episode, Richie and Tom explore trends in generative AI, the impact of AI on professional fields, cloud+local hybrid workflows, data security, and changes in data warehousing through the use of integrated AI tools, the future of business intelligence and data analytics, the challenges and opportunities surrounding AI in the corporate sector. You'll also get to discover Tom's picks for the hottest new data startups. Links Mentioned in the Show: Tom’s BlogTheory VenturesArticle: What Air Canada Lost In ‘Remarkable’ Lying AI Chatbot Case[Course] Implementing AI Solutions in BusinessRelated Episode: Making Better Decisions using Data & AI with Cassie Kozyrkov, Google's First Chief Decision ScientistSign up to RADAR: AI...

Rapid change seems to be the new norm within the data and AI space, and due to the ecosystem constantly changing, it can be tricky to keep up. Fortunately, any self-respecting venture capitalist looking into data and AI will stay on top of what’s changing and where the next big breakthroughs are likely to come from. We all want to know which important trends are emerging and how we can take advantage of them, so why not learn from a leading VC.  Tomasz Tunguz is a General Partner at Theory Ventures, a $235m early-stage venture capital firm. He blogs sat tomtunguz.com & co-authored Winning with Data. He has worked or works with Looker, Kustomer, Monte Carlo, Dremio, Omni, Hex, Spot, Arbitrum, Sui & many others. He was previously the product manager for Google's social media monetization team, including the Google-MySpace partnership, and managed the launches of AdSense into six new markets in Europe and Asia. Before Google, Tunguz developed systems for the Department of Homeland Security at Appian Corporation.  In the episode, Richie and Tom explore trends in generative AI, the impact of AI on professional fields, cloud+local hybrid workflows, data security, and changes in data warehousing through the use of integrated AI tools, the future of business intelligence and data analytics, the challenges and opportunities surrounding AI in the corporate sector. You'll also get to discover Tom's picks for the hottest new data startups. Links Mentioned in the Show: Tom’s BlogTheory VenturesArticle: What Air Canada Lost In ‘Remarkable’ Lying AI Chatbot Case[Course] Implementing AI Solutions in BusinessRelated Episode: Making Better Decisions using Data & AI with Cassie Kozyrkov, Google's First Chief Decision ScientistSign up to RADAR: AI Edition New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

Summary

Business intelligence has gone through many generational shifts, but each generation has largely maintained the same workflow. Data analysts create reports that are used by the business to understand and direct the business, but the process is very labor and time intensive. The team at Omni have taken a new approach by automatically building models based on the queries that are executed. In this episode Chris Merrick shares how they manage integration and automation around the modeling layer and how it improves the organizational experience of business intelligence.

Announcements

Hello and welcome to the Data Engineering Podcast, the show about modern data management Truly leveraging and benefiting from streaming data is hard - the data stack is costly, difficult to use and still has limitations. Materialize breaks down those barriers with a true cloud-native streaming database - not simply a database that connects to streaming systems. With a PostgreSQL-compatible interface, you can now work with real-time data using ANSI SQL including the ability to perform multi-way complex joins, which support stream-to-stream, stream-to-table, table-to-table, and more, all in standard SQL. Go to dataengineeringpodcast.com/materialize today and sign up for early access to get started. If you like what you see and want to help make it better, they're hiring across all functions! Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Chris Merrick about the Omni Analytics platform and how they are adding automatic data modeling to your business intelligence

Interview

Introduction How did you get involved in the area of data management? Can you describe what Omni Analytics is and the story behind it?

What are the core goals that you are trying to achieve with building Omni?

Business intelligence has gone through many evolutions. What are the unique capabilities that Omni Analytics offers over other players in the market?

What are the technical and organizational anti-patterns that typically grow up around BI systems?

What are the elements that contribute to BI being such a difficult product to use effectively in an organization?

Can you describe how you have implemented the Omni platform?

How have the design/scope/goals of the product changed since you first started working on it?

What does the workflow for a team using Omni look like?

What are some of the developments in the broader ecosystem that have made your work possible?

What are some of the positive and negative inspirations that you have drawn from the experience that you and your team-mates have gained in previous businesses?

What are the most interesting, innovative, or unexpected ways that you have seen Omni used?

What are the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned while working on Omni?

When is Omni the wrong choice?

What do you have planned for the future of Omni?

Contact Info

LinkedIn @cmerrick on Twitter

Parting Question

From your perspective, what is the biggest gap in the tooling or technology for data management today?

Closing Announcements

Thank you for listening! Don't forget to check out our other shows. Podcast.init covers the Python language, its community, and the innovative ways it is being used. The Machine Learning Podcast helps you go from idea to production with machine learning. Visit the site to subscribe to the show, sign up for the mailing list, and read the show notes. If you've learned something or tried out a project from the show then tell us about it! Email [email protected]) with your story. To help other people find the show please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends and co-workers

Links

Omni Analytics Stitch RJ Metrics Looker

Podcast Episode

Singer dbt

Podcast Episode

Teradata Fivetran Apache Arrow

Podcast Episode

DuckDB

Podcast Episode

BigQuery Snowflake

Podcast Episode

The intro and outro music is from The Hug by The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA Sponsored By: Materialize:

Looking for the simplest way to get the freshest data possible to your teams? Because let's face it: if real-time were easy, everyone would be using it. Look no further than Materialize, the streaming database you already know how to use.

Materialize’s PostgreSQL-compatible interface lets users leverage the tools they already use, with unsurpassed simplicity enabled by full ANSI SQL support. Delivered as a single platform with the separation of storage and compute, strict-serializability, active replication, horizontal scalability and workload isolation — Materialize is now the fastest way to build products with streaming data, drastically reducing the time, expertise, cost and maintenance traditionally associated with implementation of real-time features.

Sign up now for early access to Materialize and get started with the power of streaming data with the same simplicity and low implementation cost as batch cloud data warehouses.

Go to materialize.comSupport Data Engineering Podcast

How does a traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer transform itself into an omni-channel business with strong digital and data science capabilities? In this episode of Leaders of Analytics we learn from Bunnings General Manager, Data and Analytics, Genevieve Elliott, how the company is transforming its operations using data and analytics. As Australia and New Zealand’s largest retailer of home improvement products, Bunnings is a highly complex organisation with a large physical footprint, a wide product range and an elaborate supply chain. Bunnings is almost 130 years old and has undergone tremendous growth over the last three decades. The company’s well-known strategy of “lowest price, widest range and best customer experience” is increasingly being driven by the company’s growing data and analytics capability. In this episode we discuss: Genevieve’s career journey and how she ended up in data and analyticsHow Bunnings uses data to create operational efficiencies, improve customer experience and optimise pricingHow the team prioritises projects and engages with the organisationHow the Data & Analytics team is driving a data-driven culture through the companyGenevieve’s advice to other analytics leaders wanting to drive strategically important results for their organisation, and much more.Genevieve Elliott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genevieve-elliott/

Send us a text Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple? Reach out to us at [[email protected]] and tell us why you should be next.

Abstract Hosted by Al Martin, VP, IBM Expert Services Delivery, Making Data Simple provides the latest thinking on big data, A.I., and the implications for the enterprise from a range of experts.

This week on Making Data Simple, we have Elo Umeh, from Terragon Africa’s fastest-growing enterprise marketing technology company. Terragon uses its on-demand marketing cloud platform, attribution software, and deep analytics capability to enable thoughtful, targeted omni-channel access to 100m+ mobile-first African consumers. Elo is the Founder and CEO at Terragon Group. Elo career has spanned over 15 years where he has worked in the mobile and digital media across East and West Africa. He was part of the founding team at Mtech Communications. Elo holds a global executive MBA from IESE business of school where he graduated at the top of his class. Elo also has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lagos State University. Show Notes 4:02 – What keeps you going? 6:15 – Lets dive into Terragon 8:40 – Who are your customers? 11:06 – Define pre-paid 14:40 – What kind of incites and security are you providing? 20:37- What kind of technology is Terragon using? 23:16 – What was it about the smart phone that made you want to go out on your own? 26:10 – Who’s your biggest competitor?  28:20 – What’s next for Terragon? 31:01 – What are the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make? Terragon  Elo Umeh - LinkedIn

Connect with the Team Producer Kate Brown - LinkedIn. Producer Steve Templeton - LinkedIn. Host Al Martin - LinkedIn and Twitter.  Want to be featured as a guest on Making Data Simple? Reach out to us at [email protected] and tell us why you should be next. The Making Data Simple Podcast is hosted by Al Martin, WW VP Technical Sales, IBM, where we explore trending technologies, business innovation, and leadership ... while keeping it simple & fun.