Stop making business wait and build on your data platform now
OCT. 6, 2025
5 Min Read
Every day that business teams wait on manual data retrieval is time they could have spent on strategic work, yet many organizations remain stuck with slow, ad hoc processes.
Manual data tasks are quietly costing companies billions in lost productivity. These delays force employees into workarounds and leave important decisions hanging, undermining confidence in IT. It’s a situation that saps efficiency and erodes trust, and it can no longer be ignored. Modern data platforms offer a way out. They can double as application hubs, letting teams quickly build internal tools (like an invoice PDF finder) right where the data lives. The key is to integrate application development into the data platform strategy. That means using features such as identity pass-through and dedicated service accounts for safe data writeback so IT delivers immediate solutions with unified governance. This approach turns tedious, manual pain points into automated services that meet business needs faster, without sacrificing security or control.
key-takeaways
- 1. Manual data retrieval slows financial operations, creating risk, wasted time, and governance gaps that undermine business confidence.
- 2. Data platforms can serve as rapid app hubs, allowing IT to deliver quick, secure automations without adding infrastructure or complexity.
- 3. Features like identity pass-through, service principals, and audit schemas ensure governed self-service BI that meets compliance standards.
- 4. Small, targeted automations—such as invoice retrieval—create measurable time savings and strengthen collaboration between IT and business.
- 5. Treating the data platform as a unified automation layer accelerates response to business needs and delivers faster, governed outcomes at scale.
Manual data retrieval wastes time and creates risk
When business stakeholders need data or documents (like an invoice copy) and there’s no quick way to get it, the whole organization feels the impact. Teams end up in time-consuming manual retrieval or patchwork fixes that eat up hours and introduce errors. Every request IT cannot fulfill promptly causes delays in decisions and encourages employees to sidestep official processes. The result is often a tangle of email requests, spreadsheet exports, and shared drives that no one truly controls.
- Delays: Business users either wait for IT or attempt the task themselves, slowing down critical workflows.
- Errors: Manual copy-paste and file handling leads to mistakes and inconsistent records.
- Silos: Individuals create their own data extracts or local files, resulting in multiple versions of the truth.
- Security risks: Under pressure, employees might email sensitive files or use unapproved apps, risking data leaks and compliance violations.
- Lost trust: Frequent delays and workarounds erode confidence in IT’s ability to deliver.
Ultimately, these manual processes waste valuable time and scatter data in uncontrolled ways, creating problems far beyond the initial request. The organization pays the price in inefficiency and risk, from slowed operations to potential data breaches. These issues are so acute that many employees completely bypass IT. In fact, 38% admit using unsanctioned tools when official solutions take too long. To break this cycle, IT needs a faster, safer way to give business users what they need.
"The key is to integrate application development into the data platform strategy."
Building apps on the data platform development friction
Traditionally, even a simple internal tool required hiring front-end developers, provisioning servers, and coordinating across teams, a process that could drag on for months. Modern data platforms remove much of that friction by allowing teams to build and run applications in-place. The platform handles authentication and hosting behind the scenes, so developers can focus on the app logic rather than infrastructure. This avoids long approval cycles for new systems and gets solutions into users’ hands much faster.
Keeping these apps on the same platform means they automatically inherit existing access controls and policies (for example, Unity Catalog rules on Databricks). Maintenance is simpler too: there’s no extra system to integrate, which means fewer chances for something to break. The bottom line is that by using the platform you already have, IT can deliver solutions faster and with far less overhead.
Secure integration bridges governed data to business tools
Business users often want results delivered in familiar tools, such as a shared Google Drive or a spreadsheet-style BI interface. Connecting your data platform to these external systems requires careful governance so you don’t lose control over who sees what. The solution is to enforce a few key practices: identity pass-through for user-level security, service principals for any data hand-offs, and detailed audit logs of every action.
Identity pass-through preserves access control
Identity pass-through means that when a user accesses data through an external tool, they do so as themselves, not under a generic account. Often this is achieved with single sign-on or OAuth, so the user’s identity carries through from the front end to the data platform. The benefit is fine-grained security: each person sees only what their own permissions allow. For instance, with OAuth on Databricks, each Sigma user connects with their own Databricks identity and automatically inherits their existing data permissions. This ensures the platform’s usual governance rules still apply even in an outside tool.
Service principals and writeback safeguards
When an application needs to perform actions on data (writing records, sending files, or calling an external API), it shouldn’t use an end user’s personal credentials. Instead, a service principal (dedicated service account) with tightly scoped permissions handles these operations. For example, a team using Sigma created a service principal with access limited to a specific catalog and schemas for all write-back data. This approach ensures automated processes run under governed identities that are fully auditable, and it separates machine actions from human ones, meaning you can adjust or revoke the app’s permissions without impacting individual users.
Audit logging and transparency
Every action taken by these apps should be recorded in an audit log, and modern platforms typically capture who did what and when. In fact, Sigma creates a log table tracking all changes made through its write-back feature, complete with timestamps and metadata for every user input. This transparency is crucial for compliance and trust. IT can demonstrate that even self-service data activities are monitored and traceable, giving stakeholders confidence that nothing is happening out of sight.
Combining identity enforcement, scoped service accounts, and rigorous logging allows companies to confidently extend their data platform into external tools. Business teams get the convenience they want, while IT retains full oversight.
Small automations drive outsized business value
A small targeted automation can have an outsized impact on productivity. Consider the invoice retrieval scenario: instead of manually digging up files, a lightweight Databricks App now fetches them in seconds and drops them into a Google Drive folder. Business users receive the documents they need almost instantly, and no one has to trawl through databases or expose raw storage access. Multiply this improvement across dozens of everyday tasks, and the time savings add up fast.
These automations do more than save time; they also boost morale and encourage collaboration. When employees see IT delivering quick solutions that make their jobs easier, it builds trust between business and tech teams. And the payoff is tangible: companies have reported cutting labor costs by up to 30% and completing processes 50% faster through finance automation. Over time, a collection of these “small” wins can significantly improve productivity and even the bottom line.
"These automations do more than save time; they also boost morale and encourage collaboration."
Lumenalta and the path to agile, governed data solutions
For many organizations, executing these data platform innovations at scale calls for an experienced partner to guide the way. This is where Lumenalta comes in with a unique blend of technical expertise and a business-first mindset. We work alongside CIOs and CTOs to bridge the gap between bold data strategy and practical, fast delivery. Our approach centers on governed self-service solutions such as internal data apps and secure integrations, helping IT teams deliver quick wins without compromising security or compliance.
Our approach is pragmatic and outcome-oriented, emphasizing rapid, iterative execution over drawn-out projects. Acting as an extension of your team, we pair your internal knowledge with our deep expertise in cloud, data, and AI to co-create solutions tailored to your environment. The result is technology initiatives aligned directly with business goals: from shaving days off finance processes to uncovering new opportunities through improved data access. With Lumenalta as a partner, IT leaders can accelerate their data initiatives confidently, knowing each step forward is securely managed and tied to real business value.
table-of-contents
- Manual data retrieval wastes time and creates risk
- Building apps on the data platform removes development friction
- Secure integration bridges governed data to business tools
- Small automations drive outsized business value
- Lumenalta and the path to agile, governed data solutions
- Common questions about self service data access
Common questions about self service data access
How can we securely automate manual data retrieval processes?
What are Databricks Apps and how do they help create quick internal solutions?
How can a data platform integrate with tools like Google Drive for business use?
How does identity pass-through improve self-service data access in BI?
How do audit schemas help maintain trust in automated financial processes?
Want to learn how self-service data access can bring more transparency and trust to your operations?
