Databricks and SAP Expand Partnership to Bring AI Tools to SAP Data

Expanded partnership announced at SAP TechEd

Databricks and SAP said they are expanding their partnership to give SAP Databricks customers broader access to SAP application data across both cloud and on-premises systems. The companies made the announcement this week at SAP TechEd, building on SAP Databricks, which SAP and Databricks introduced last year to embed the Databricks Data + AI Platform directly inside SAP Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC).

Since that general availability, Databricks says customers including Adidas, Zalando, Mondi and CAF have used SAP Databricks and SAP BDC Connect for Databricks to analyze, govern and build AI on SAP data through what the companies describe as zero-copy, bi-directional OpenSharing.

A new foundation for SAP data access

As part of the announcement, SAP introduced the SAP Application Data Foundation, which the companies say makes data from SAP applications available for consumption in the SAP BDC engine of a customer's choice, including SAP Databricks. According to Databricks, this removes the need for custom extraction pipelines, since SAP data products can be shared with SAP BDC Connect for zero-copy access. Databricks says the foundation also lets data engineers build models on SAP's business semantics and apply the full Databricks Data + AI Platform to that data.

Databricks describes a hypothetical example of a manufacturer running finance and supply chain operations on SAP ECC on-premises while planning a move to the cloud. According to the company, such a customer could use the SAP Application Data Foundation to bring years of order history into SAP Databricks, enrich it with third-party data, and build demand-forecasting models on SAP's business semantics without custom pipelines.

Capabilities planned for SAP Databricks

Databricks says it plans to bring four of its capabilities into SAP Databricks, embedded within SAP BDC:

• Genie, described by Databricks as an AI coworker giving teams access to governed data and AI with enterprise context. Databricks says a planned bi-directional integration between Genie and SAP's Joule will bring answers and actions into SAP experiences.
• Lakeflow, a data engineering tool for ingesting, transforming and orchestrating data, which Databricks says lets teams build pipelines combining SAP data with IoT, CRM and third-party sources.
• Unity Gateway, which Databricks describes as providing multi-AI governance and cost control across agents, tools, models and MCPs.
• Lakebase, which Databricks calls a serverless Postgres database built for AI apps and agents.

Databricks says the expanded partnership also includes joint go-to-market teams in the field intended to help customers move faster on AI projects involving SAP data.

Executive comment and customer example

SAP Chief Technology Officer Philipp Herzig said the integration combines SAP's understanding of business processes with the Databricks data platform to help customers build what he called a foundation for the "Autonomous Enterprise." Databricks SVP of Business Strategy and Operations Michael Kiermaier said the partnership brings SAP data together with the Databricks platform and that combining Genie with Joule is meant to deliver business context to teams and agents.

Databricks cites SAF-Holland, a manufacturer of chassis components for trailers, trucks and buses, as a customer using SAP BDC and SAP Databricks to unify more than 100 million records of customer, delivery and material data. According to Databricks, the company applies machine learning to predict delivery schedule reliability and now generates analyses five times faster than with its previous reporting approach. SAF-Holland's David Gund, Senior Manager of Global Digital Intelligence, said opening the SAP data ecosystem to Databricks has unlocked better analysis for internal teams.

Databricks says SAP Databricks and SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Databricks are available today, and that customers can contact their SAP or Databricks account team for details on the SAP Application Data Foundation and the expanded SAP Databricks capabilities.

Source: Databricks Blog, "Databricks and SAP unleash end-to-end data & AI capabilities to level up enterprise AI transformation," published October 30, 2026.