Secoda Product News - February 2025

Every few years, a new wave of technology comes along that promises to change everything. 

Right now, that wave is AI. 

Before that, it was big data and cloud computing. 

I've been talking with many organizations lately who are rushing to implement AI, and they all share the same pressure to move quickly. They also share an understanding that a solid foundation is absolutely essential before taking that leap.

Many organizations have invested heavily in data infrastructure and built complex processes to democratize data, but are still struggling to efficiently and safely provision access to that data at scale. Engineering teams can spend weeks waiting for access and security teams easily lose track of who has access to what. Former employees retain permissions they shouldn't have and decisions slow down because teams lack a clear, automated way to request, approve, and track data access. As requests bounce between email chains, Slack, and ticketing systems, the pain around managing data access at scale creates another bottleneck around data management.

At Secoda, we believe that information about access, security and governance is just as important as ownership and lineage metadata. Context about data access should be a natural part of product development and enable protection without adding friction. Most other data tools treat security as just another checkbox feature. They have role-based access, SSO support, and sensitive data restrictions. While these features are essential, they miss the bigger picture. Security is more than just a feature, and should be woven into the very foundation of your data context. By doing this you can both scale access to data and run faster towards AI initiatives. 

That’s why I’m excited to share our newest features targeted at solving these very difficult problems.

‍Custom roles lets teams create focused permissions by removing access to resources and features they don't need. For example, business users can set up data monitors while staying clear of metadata management tasks that aren't part of their job. This replaces one-size-fits-all roles with streamlined access, letting you remove unnecessary permissions and keep only what each team actually needs.

We've also made it easier for data teams to manage and track access requests across their organization. Secoda centralizes requests and automatically syncs permissions back to data sources like Snowflake, Postgres and Redshift. When users discover data sources they don't have access to while searching in Secoda, they can simply request access by specifying their intended duration and use case. Once approved by a Secoda admin, these permissions are automatically applied to the underlying data sources, making the entire process quick and easy.

When teams have quick, secure access to the data they need, it streamlines how they work. Instead of wasting time navigating complicated permission systems, data teams can focus on projects that drive business value. And rather than security slowing everything down, different departments can work together smoothly. That's why we view solving data access as a critical priority.

The great thing we’re seeing is that our customers who have established a strong foundation of well-governed data are working together smoothly and moving faster than ever. Data access requests and custom roles are two features that move Secoda closer towards our vision of being the unified data governance platform that powers the next generation of AI, analytics and business decisions at scale. 

Until next time,

Etai Mizrahi