Unifying Data to Unify Decisions: Why SAP and Databricks Is More Than a Business Deal

Data drives every strategic decision in today’s enterprise, yet it often flows through disjointed systems that don’t talk to each other. On one side, you have your operational data—structured, transactional, tightly governed—living inside ERP platforms like SAP . On the other, you have analytical data—stored in data lakes, warehouses, or cloud platforms—used for forecasting, dashboards, and machine learning.

The major challenge is that these two worlds rarely meet in real-time. And when they do, it’s often through manual exports, batch pipelines, or shadow integrations that are hard to maintain and slow to deliver insight.

Let’s take a few examples:

• A retailer wants to adjust pricing dynamically based on sales trends and inventory levels. But the data needed for this includes real-time transactions from their ERP and behavioral data from web platforms that live in separate environments, making near-instant decision-making impossible.

• A manufacturer wants to use predictive maintenance models to reduce downtime. However, integrating SAP asset data with IoT sensor readings and running models in a single platform becomes a complex project involving weeks of custom ETL.

• A finance team is trying to run scenario planning across subsidiaries. However, their SAP data is locked behind layers of system complexity and can’t be easily enriched with market feeds or internal forecasts.

These scenarios all point to the same challenge: without unified platforms, businesses are constantly reacting to the past instead of shaping the future. In an enterprise context where agility, automation, and AI are now critical, the inability to connect operational and analytical data is not a technical inconvenience—it’s a strategic bottleneck.

Unified Data Platform (UDP)

A unified data platform (UDP) is an integrated system designed to bring together data from multiple sources, such as databases, applications, and external datasets, into a single, cohesive environment. The goal of UPDs is therefore to merge operational and analytical data, creating a unique framework for analysis and decisions. Their key features and benefits are:

• Data Integration: seamless integration of data from various sources, including structured and unstructured data.

• Data Management: efficient data management, including data ingestion, storage, processing, and analysis.

• Data Governance: UDPs support data governance principles to ensure data quality, consistency, and security.

• Real-time Analytics: They enable real-time analytics by providing a comprehensive view of the data lifecycle.

• Break Down Silos: UDPs break down data silos, allowing for a holistic view of data across the organization.

• Improved Decision-Making: By providing a unified view of data, UDPs enable better decision-making and improved business outcomes.

UDPs are more than just a data warehouse or a business intelligence platform—they are actually the combination of a unified data architecture, intelligent processing capabilities, and consumption layers that support both operational and analytical use cases.

At their core, Unified Data Platforms bring together data ingestion, storage, processing, and governance into a single ecosystem. But what sets them apart is their ability to serve multiple personas — from data scientists building predictive models, to business users exploring dashboards, to IT teams enforcing security and compliance.

Data Fabric + Data Lakehouse - UDPs combine the real-time accessibility of a data fabric with the scalability and flexibility of a lakehouse architecture—bridging structured SAP data, unstructured logs, IoT streams, and third-party datasets.

ML + BI + Operational Intelligence - They support machine learning workflows (not just dashboards), real-time analytics, and event-driven architectures, enabling businesses to shift from reactive to predictive.

Governance + Trust - Unlike standalone tools, UDPs embed data governance, cataloging, access control, and lineage tracking across the platform—crucial for industries that rely on auditability and compliance.

SAP + Databricks : The big advantage

On February 13th SAP and Databricks announced the launch of SAP Databricks, a strategic product and go-to-market partnership with SAP that natively integrates the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform within the newly launched SAP Business Data Cloud. The partnership combines the most important business data that is in SAP with the Databricks platform for data warehousing, data engineering, and AI all governed by Databricks Unity Catalog.

“Every organization is searching for a faster, more reliable way to translate their data into strategic advantage,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-founder and CEO of Databricks. “Together with SAP, we’re helping businesses seamlessly unify their data sources, streamline analytics, and accelerate the development of domain-specific AI applications.”

I believe this move positions SAP to leap ahead in delivering an integrated, future-ready data platform, which can now offer a richer and (hopefully) more fully integrated platform to their vast customer base—many of whom have long struggled to bridge the gap between mission-critical ERP systems and modern data and AI capabilities.

By integrating with Databricks, SAP gains access to a flexible, high-performance analytics and AI engine that complements its robust transactional systems. For customers, this means fewer compromises: they no longer have to choose between trustworthy SAP data and scalable, open analytics platforms. Now, they can have both—within a framework that supports real-time data processing, lakehouse architecture, and advanced machine learning.

For enterprises navigating digital transformation, this integration brings tangible advantages:

1. Shorter innovation cycles, as data no longer needs to be replicated or wrangled across multiple platforms.

2. More intelligent workflows, such as embedding AI directly into procurement, finance, or logistics processes.

3. Lower total cost of ownership, thanks to simplified architectures and reduced data movement.

From a strategic standpoint, this move also signals SAP's shift from a closed, monolithic data stack to a more open, composable data ecosystem—a necessary evolution in the platform economy where data agility often matters more than system centralization.

In short, this isn’t just about two vendors teaming up—it’s about creating a new operating model for enterprise data, one that finally aligns governance, scale, and innovation.

The real question now is: how many enterprises will be ready to capitalize on this shift before their competitors do?

MY 3 QUESTIONS TO END

• How unified is your current data architecture across operations and analytics?

• Are you still replicating data to feed insights, or moving toward a composable, real-time platform?

• What technical, organizational, or cultural barriers are slowing your ability to connect AI to operational decisions?

Leave a comment below and let's have a chat !!

THE SHARING BOARD

• Databricks - Databricks Announces Launch of SAP Databricks. https://www.databricks.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/databricks-announces-launch-sap-databricks

• Cloudera - The Strategic Importance of a Unified Data Platform. https://www.cloudera.com/blog/technical/the-strategic-importance-of-a-unified-data-platform.html

• GigaSpaces - What Is a Unified Data Platform? https://www.gigaspaces.com/data-terms/unified-data-platform

• Syniti - What is a Unified Data Management Platform and Why Do You Need One? https://blog.syniti.com/what-is-a-unified-data-management-platform-and-why-do-you-need-one

• Google Cloud - Your data is faster together: Your unified data platform for building modern apps. https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/databases/how-a-unified-data-platform-enables-modern-apps

If you liked this article, feel free to share it! If you know someone who might like it, please share it with them! https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/data-ai-secure-7271838207917309952/

Keep in touch!

Gio