

Databricks and SAP Business Data Cloud are analytics solutions that compete in the big data and business intelligence sectors. Databricks has an edge in handling extensive data processing tasks due to its superior performance optimization and machine learning capabilities.
Features: Databricks specializes in large-scale analytics with optimized query performance. It includes built-in machine learning libraries significant for big data applications. The platform is efficient in processing large data volumes swiftly. SAP Business Data Cloud excels in creating visualizations and supports self-service platform functionalities. It facilitates intuitive planning and offers ease of visualization.
Room for Improvement: Databricks can improve its machine learning and visualization libraries to advance predictive analytics. Enhanced external platform integration and better automatic variable categorization are recommended. SAP Business Data Cloud could benefit from improved visualization features, better third-party system integration, and higher efficiency in planning functions, along with expanded connectivity options.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Databricks offers flexible deployment primarily on public clouds and receives generally positive feedback for customer support, despite some reports of delayed responses. SAP Business Data Cloud also supports public cloud deployment and focuses on smooth integration with other SAP solutions. Users appreciate the comprehensive documentation and satisfactory technical support.
Pricing and ROI: Databricks is cost-effective with its pay-as-you-go model, facilitating resource scaling and strong ROI management in data-intensive operations. SAP Business Data Cloud offers competitive pricing in SAP ecosystems but can be expensive compared to alternatives like Power BI. Both pricing structures align with their targeted use cases, appealing to their respective operational strengths.
This reduction in both time and money resulted in real-time impact and significant cost savings.
For a lot of different tasks, including machine learning, it is a nice solution.
When it comes to big data processing, I prefer Databricks over other solutions.
We have saved a lot on the number of employees, and implementation time for the projects has reduced significantly since we started using the standard features of SAP Business Data Cloud.
Once the content is available, then it is a faster go-live with lesser cost in implementation, and that would give an ROI.
There is a return on investment with SAP Business Data Cloud, as it saves money because it performs results quickly and easily, facilitating integrations and speeding up operations compared to other analytics tools, thereby saving time and money.
Whenever we reach out, they respond promptly.
As of now, we are raising issues and they are providing solutions without any problems.
I rate the technical support as fine because they have levels of technical support available, especially partners who get really good support from Databricks on new features.
The technical support is a very well-organized service, with a lot of tools for me as a consultant and for the end user on how to contact SAP support and get issues solved.
For example, when I provide a set of instructions, they often simply ask me to implement those steps without checking whether they are applicable.
In SAP's policy, for the first couple of years, the product team is also part of the support team.
The sky's the limit with Databricks.
The patches have sometimes caused issues leading to our jobs being paused for about six hours.
Databricks is an easily scalable platform.
SAP Analytics Cloud can be used by a small company, and it can be used by a large corporate.
Since SAP has consolidated everything on one platform, there is ample room to expand as much as needed.
There are no limitations in terms of scale, so it fits both SMB customers and enterprise customers.
They release patches that sometimes break our code.
Although it is too early to definitively state the platform's stability, we have not encountered any issues so far.
Databricks is definitely a very stable product and reliable.
You have a chance to test it on your test tenant in small increments, so it should not break your productive reports and productive environment.
Other than during these quarterly release periods, the availability is excellent.
In a typical quarter, the availability has been over 99%; in a few cases, it dropped to around 98.5%.
Adjusting features like worker nodes and node utilization during cluster creation could mitigate these failures.
We prefer using a small to mid-sized cluster for many jobs to keep costs low, but this sometimes doesn't support our operations properly.
We use MLflow for managing MLOps, however, further improvement would be beneficial, especially for large language models and related tools.
On the other hand, it is perfectly fitting to the SAP environment, with seamless integration to all SAP modules, not only ERP but also SuccessFactors and other tools from the SAP family.
If SAP can come up with innovative options to reduce licensing costs, many customers would incline toward SAP Business Data Cloud.
If I compare the cost with SAP competitors, I find that when creating an enterprise data lake, if I don't use SAP Business Data Cloud and make it directly in the hyperscalers, it is pretty much cheaper than doing the same in SAP Business Data Cloud.
It is not a cheap solution.
I believe that in terms of credits for Databricks, we're spending between £15,000 and £20,000 a month.
If I compare the cost with SAP competitors, I find that when creating an enterprise data lake, if I don't use SAP Business Data Cloud and make it directly in the hyperscalers, it is pretty much cheaper than doing the same in SAP Business Data Cloud.
Frankly, pricing, setup cost, and licensing seem a bit high compared to other hyperscalers.
The pricing for SAP Business Data Cloud is higher compared to alternatives.
Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed.
The platform allows us to leverage cloud advantages effectively, enhancing our AI and ML projects.
The Unity Catalog is for data governance, and the Delta Lake is to build the lakehouse.
For SuccessFactors and S/4HANA Cloud, there are pre-built reports available which are commonly used by customers.
SAP Business Data Cloud has positively impacted my organization by federating SAP data, which is now available for all to use.
The main standout feature is BDC Connect, as it is very useful for sharing data without replicating to third-party tools such as Enterprise Databricks, Snowflake or even in the near future, Google BigQuery as well as Microsoft Fabric.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Databricks | 10.2% |
| SAP Business Data Cloud | 2.8% |
| Other | 87.0% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 27 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 12 |
| Large Enterprise | 56 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 27 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 19 |
| Large Enterprise | 49 |
Databricks offers a scalable, versatile platform that integrates seamlessly with Spark and multiple languages, supporting data engineering, machine learning, and analytics in a unified environment.
Databricks stands out for its scalability, ease of use, and powerful integration with Spark, multiple languages, and leading cloud services like Azure and AWS. It provides tools such as the Notebook for collaboration, Delta Lake for efficient data management, and Unity Catalog for data governance. While enhancing data engineering and machine learning workflows, it faces challenges in visualization and third-party integration, with pricing and user interface navigation being common concerns. Despite needing improvements in connectivity and documentation, it remains popular for tasks like real-time processing and data pipeline management.
What features make Databricks unique?
What benefits can users expect from Databricks?
In the tech industry, Databricks empowers teams to perform comprehensive data analytics, enabling them to conduct extensive ETL operations, run predictive modeling, and prepare data for SparkML. In retail, it supports real-time data processing and batch streaming, aiding in better decision-making. Enterprises across sectors leverage its capabilities for creating secure APIs and managing data lakes effectively.
SAP Business Data Cloud provides cloud-based predictive analysis, robust visualization, and integrated planning capabilities with seamless SAP integration. It enhances analytics and reporting efficiency with machine learning and AI features.
SAP Business Data Cloud stands out with its user-friendly application design, leveraging TypeScript scripting for flexibility. It enables easy data integration, customizable dashboards, and collaborative planning. Renowned for its seamless connectivity and comprehensive business intelligence offerings, it is designed to support real-time analytics and planning across both on-prem and cloud environments. Improvements are anticipated in visualization features, connectivity, and third-party system integration, with calls for more customizable chart options and real-time reporting capabilities.
What are the most important features of SAP Business Data Cloud?SAP Business Data Cloud serves industries by powering cloud-based reporting, analytics, financial planning, and executive dashboards. Companies utilize it to integrate SAP and non-SAP data sources for insights and forecasts. It is applied in constructing dashboards, boardroom presentations, budgeting, and predictive analytics, supporting versatile use cases across multiple sectors.
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