In February 2025, SAP & Databricks announced a landmark partnership to offer SAP Databricks, a natively integrated data + AI service inside the new SAP BDC (Business Data Cloud). SAP BDC itself is anchored within SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform).
SAP Databricks allows customers to run machine learning, generative AI and advanced analytics directly on semantically rich SAP business data, governed by Unity Catalog and shared seamlessly via Delta Sharing (SAP News, Databricks Blog). It represents the art of the possible as it eliminates data copies, curates trusted data products and enables cradle‑to‑grave governance as part of SAP’s broader BTP journey.
But here lies the professional hazard: not every SAP customer is ready to immediately adopt BTP and Business Data Cloud. Licensing models, project funding and organizational readiness mean that for many CIOs, SAP BTP remains a North Star destination, not tomorrow’s reality. Meanwhile, they’re under pressure: supply chain volatility, finance close windows shrinking and auditors watching for tell‑tale signs of gaps in governance. Many firms already run Databricks, feeding it IoT telemetry, Salesforce CRM, Kafka streams and e‑commerce data. They now want to blend S/4HANA ERP or SAP BW on HANA data without waiting for a BTP pivot.
