Guides
How to get answers from your data without a data team
Short answer
Startups used to be limited to basic spreadsheets if they wanted to analyse data before they could hire a data team. With AI that is changing. There are plenty of AI data analysis tools but most compromise on accuracy because the AI doesnt know the context behind your business and definitions. At Sovarium our data experts setup that context layer for you so that our agent can give trustworthy accurate ansers.
Can spreadsheets do the job?
Spreadsheets are really useful for basic analysis that can point you in the right direction and often they’re enough to answer a question. The downsides are that they take a lot of work to produce, aren’t maintained, and can’t do complex analysis.
Should you hire a data team?
Yes, having a data team adds a lot of value to data-rich companies and gives a strong competitive advantage where every decision is backed by data instead of intuition. However, hiring a team, onboarding, and then the time it takes to ramp up before the first insight is delivered can take 6-12 months.
During that time, decisions still get made but with no data to back them up.
Can you do it yourself with ChatGPT or Claude?
You can, if someone writes and maintains the context the model needs. A general model writes good SQL but doesn’t have any context on how data tables connect, what columns mean, or how your business metrics are calculated.
Anthropic’s data team reported in June 2026 that without context Claude’s accuracy on its own analytics evaluations “didn’t exceed 21%”. With context it was “consistently above 95% in aggregate”.
The DIY route works at Anthropic but they have a large data team doing the maintenance.
What does an AI analyst change?
An AI analyst lets anyone ask in plain English and get an answer with the SQL behind it, in seconds rather than days. Whether the answer is right still depends on who wrote the definitions it reads: your own team, or the vendor’s experts.
Self-serve AI analysts connect to your warehouse and start answering straight away, and you supply or correct the definitions as you go. That is fast to start, and accuracy grows with the effort you put in. If you have someone who knows the data well and wants speed, it is a good fit.
Done-for-you AI analysts reverse the trade. The vendor’s data experts write the definitions before anyone asks, which takes longer to start and leaves less for you to maintain.
Where Sovarium fits
Sovarium is a proactive analytics AI for companies that don’t have a data team. Our data experts create your Context Layer, you connect the warehouse with a read-only user, and the layer typically takes a few days to a week.
Then anyone asks in plain English, in the web app or in Slack, and gets a written answer, a chart and the SQL behind it in Chat. When it can’t be sure what you mean, it asks one short question first. Each person also gets a Command View built around their role, a dashboard and morning briefing that flags what changed before anyone asks.
Plans are contracts through our sales team, sized to your data and your people.
Questions
Can I use ChatGPT to analyse company data?
Yes, for exports you upload and for answers you can check by hand. On a live warehouse, a general model writes valid SQL but cannot know your definitions: which revenue, which date, which orders to leave out. Anthropic's data team reported that without skills (curated reference docs and instructions), Claude's accuracy on its analytics evaluations didn't exceed 21%; with them, it was consistently above 95%. Someone has to write and maintain that context.
Do I need a data warehouse first?
For anything beyond spreadsheets, yes, or at least a database your tools can query. Most AI analysts and BI tools read from a warehouse such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks or PostgreSQL, and loading tools can copy data in from billing, CRM and product systems. Sovarium connects to eight warehouse types and queries the data where it lives, through a read-only user you create.
When should I hire my first data person?
When data work fills most of someone's week, or when you need pipelines and modelling that no tool covers. A first hire is far more useful with written definitions to start from; without them, their first months go on rediscovering what your columns mean. An AI analyst does not rule out a hire: it takes the routine questions, and the analyst takes the deeper work.