In recent past, the enterprise data market has moved at a disruptive rate from the outside via new players like Databricks, Snowflake, and an endless barrage of buzzword-laden solutions like artificial intelligence.
Moreover, tackling non-SAP data has been a big missing piece for SAP’s solution till date.
SAP's Business Data Cloud announcement was one of the most ambitious in SAP’s history. It also raised a flurry of questions on SAP's data strategy, how existing investments fit in, and what this means for SAP Business AI. Time to dig into the top community questions.
What is SAP Business Data Cloud?
SAP BDC is a fully managed SaaS platform that integrates:
- SAP Datasphere for data modelling and integration
- SAP Analytics Cloud for analytics and planning
- SAP Business Warehouse capabilities (private cloud edition only)
- Managed Databricks for advanced data processing (with limited features)
- Context-aware intelligent applications for AI-driven insights (SAP Joule & Databrick's Mosaic)
It also includes curated, business-ready data products from SAP’s line-of-business applications which will be fully managed by SAP. Custom Data products can be created by Copying the SAP provided Data products or creating the partner products from Scratch.
Why is SAP launching BDC Now?
- AI and Data Convergence: The explosion of AI capabilities demands better data infrastructure. BDC is SAP’s answer to this convergence.
- Enterprise Complexity: Businesses are more interconnected than ever. BDC helps manage this complexity by offering a holistic view of operations.
- Competitive Pressure: Companies need real-time insights to stay ahead. BDC enables faster, smarter decision-making.
- Cloud Maturity: Organizations are now more comfortable with cloud-first strategies, making the timing ideal for a cloud-native data platform
What problems does SAP BDC solve?
SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) addresses several critical challenges that modern enterprises face in managing and leveraging their data. Here's a breakdown of the key problems it solves:
- Data Fragmentation Across Systems
Problem: Enterprises often have data scattered across SAP systems, third-party applications, and data lakes, making it hard to get a unified view.
BDC Solution: It integrates data from SAP and non-SAP sources into a single, governed environment—eliminating silos and enabling holistic insights.
2. Complex and Costly Data Integration
Problem: Traditional data integration is time-consuming, expensive, and often requires heavy IT involvement.
BDC Solution: Offers pre-built connectors, semantic models, and business-context-aware data products that simplify and accelerate integration.
3. Poor AI and Analytics Readiness
Problem: AI models often fail due to poor data quality, lack of context, or disconnected data sources.
BDC Solution: Ensures high-quality, contextual, and business-ready data that’s ideal for training AI models and generating actionable insights.
4. Limited Access for Business Users
Problem: Business users rely heavily on IT for data access and reporting, slowing down decision-making.
BDC Solution: Empowers business users with self-service analytics, planning tools, and intuitive interfaces—reducing dependency on IT.
5. Governance and Compliance Risks
Problem: Managing data governance, lineage, and compliance across multiple platforms is complex and risky.
BDC Solution: Provides centralized governance, lineage tracking, and policy enforcement to ensure compliance and data trust.
6. Slow Innovation and Time-to-Value
Problem: Building new data-driven applications or insights takes too long due to fragmented tools and processes.
BDC Solution: Speeds up innovation with a unified platform that supports rapid development, testing, and deployment of data products and AI solutions.
Apart from these, data movement is another crucial issue. Customers don't have the same data strategy; experts don't even agree on whether AI data should be in the cloud, on the edge, or in some elaborate 'lakehouse' or 'AI speed layer.' For BDC to live up to its billing, it can't require customers to be moving their data all over the place.
What Are Data Products in SAP BDC?
In SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC), data products are curated, reusable, and governed datasets that are designed to be easily consumed by business users, analysts, and AI applications. They are a core concept in BDC’s data-as-a-product approach.
A data product in BDC is:
- A packaged dataset with business context, metadata, and governance rules.
- Built from SAP and non-SAP data sources.
- Designed to be discoverable, shareable, and reusable across the organization.
- Delivered with semantic meaning, so users understand what the data represents.
What Does "Zero Copy" Mean in BDC?
In traditional data architectures, sharing or analysing data often involves copying it from one system to another—which is time-consuming, costly, and introduces governance risks.
In BDC, "zero copy" means:
- Data consumers (like analytics tools or AI models) can access data directly from its source.
- There’s no need to replicate or move the data into another environment.
- This is enabled through open protocols like Delta Sharing, which allow secure, performant access to data in-place
How It Works
- Delta Sharing (from Databricks) is integrated into BDC.
- It allows remote access to Delta Lake tables (stored as Parquet files with metadata) without copying them.
- BDC uses this to serve curated data products to consumers while maintaining central governance and control.
Benefits of Zero Copy in BDC
- Faster Access: No waiting for data to be moved or transformed.
- Lower Costs: Reduces storage and compute costs by avoiding duplication.
- Better Governance: Centralized control over data access and usage.
- Real-Time Insights: Enables near real-time analytics and AI applications.
I hope this blog gave you a better understanding of SAP BDC now.
How SAP tackles the upcoming challenges with BDC remains to be seen.
Happy Learning.
Swati Gawade-Shingade.
Cognizant technology Solutions.
