In 2017, we launched Snowflake Data Sharing, aka The Data Sharehouse, to help organizations quickly share governed and secure data in real time. What makes Snowflake Data Sharing possible is the multi-tenant cloud data architecture where business units or organizations, known as “data producers”, can store data from diverse sources and share that data among a large number of other business units or organizations known as “data consumers.” 

To further enrich Snowflake Data Sharing, we are excited to offer general availability of two new enhancements: A new UI and Reader accounts.

A refreshed UI

The new UI makes it possible to create and manage shares for organizations by simplifying the process of sharing data. Reader Accounts are Snowflake accounts created and managed by data providers on behalf of their consumers. This makes it easier for organizations to seamlessly share data with anyone, whether they are a Snowflake customer or not.

Reader Accounts were created for companies that do not yet have a Snowflake account. Reader Accounts grant the data consumer some amount of administrative control over permissions and data access; however, they are restricted from loading their own data, so consumers can only access and utilize the data providers have shared with them. For more information about Full Accounts and Reader Accounts, read our whitepaper here.

Previously, only account admins could perform data sharing tasks. The new UI enables a more flexible workflow, allowing users to create and maintain shares in a provider account and importing shares in a consumer account to other users. Additionally, the enhanced workflow adds support for performing all reader account tasks using wizards in the web interface, which helps simplify and streamline the process. Previously, shares could only be created and managed through SQL. The new web interface uses wizards to guide you through each step of the process.

Customers Using Data Sharing

Boston-based Localytics provides a mobile engagement platform used on more than 2.7 billion mobile devices worldwide. With Snowflake, Localytics removed the burden of cumbersome ETL efforts to make data directly accessible through Snowflake Data Sharing, creating a much more efficient and reliable way to manage and understand customer data.

PlaceIQ aggregates, collects, and anonymizes data from thousands of applications on mobile devices. It then makes the data available for companies that want to target and reach out to mobile consumers based on their location and behavior. Snowflake Data Sharing resolved PlaceIQ’s challenges to scale and deliver thousands of individual data consumer subscriptions with governed, secure slices of the data. PlaceIQ now uses far fewer resources to manage its single source of truth, while enabling its data consumers to self-serve their own data subscription.

Snowflake Data Sharing helps your organization augment the data you are already using with data from any (or many) Snowflake data providers. With low costs, and almost no friction, you can immediately turn data that has been shared with you into valuable insights.

From monetizing your data as a product or a service to improving your products and services with deeper analysis, the use cases for data sharing are nearly endless. Learn more about Snowflake Data Sharing by watching a demo and our detailed webinar: Improving Data Sharing Through Modernized Data Accessibility.