The question asks which solution within the SAP ecosystem enables advanced AI and machine learning (ML) models using both SAP and third-party data. The correct answer is SAP Databricks, as it is specifically designed to provide advanced data engineering, AI, and ML capabilities within theSAP Business Data Cloud platform, seamlessly integrating SAP and non-SAP data.
According to official SAP documentation,SAP Business Data Cloudis a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that integrates key components such asSAP Datasphere,SAP Analytics Cloud,SAP Business Warehouse (BW), andSAP Databricks. Among these,SAP Databricksis the component tailored for advanced AI and ML workloads, enabling data scientists to develop and execute algorithms and models on combined SAP and third- party data without the need for data replication.
The exact extract from thePositioning SAP Business Data Cloudlesson on learning.sap.com states:
"SAP Databricks is a data intelligence platform that provides advanced data engineering capabilities, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). SAP Databricks is used by the data scientist who needs a powerful set of tools to develop algorithms and models from data. ... To enable advanced AI/ML scenarios within SAP Business Data Cloud, SAP has embedded Databricks as a service. The name of the embedded version of Databricks is SAP Databricks."learning.sap.com This extract confirms thatSAP Databricksis the component responsible for advanced AI and ML capabilities.
It integrates natively withSAP Business Data Cloudthrough the Delta Sharing protocol, allowing secure, bidirectional data access without physically copying data between systems. This enables data teams to blend SAP data with external data sources for AI and ML use cases, as further supported by:
"SAP Databricks integrates natively with SAP Business Data Cloud through Delta Sharing, enabling secure, bidirectional data access without physically copying data between systems. This shared foundation allows data teams to: Blend SAP data with external data: Data teams can blend their SAP data with data from other applications, databases, and object storage systems."databricks.com In contrast, the other options do not primarily focus on advanced AI and ML model development:
* SAP AI Launchpad: This is a tool for managing and deploying AI models across SAP solutions but is not the primary platform for developing advanced AI/ML models on combined SAP and third-party data. It serves more as an orchestration layer for AI scenarios rather than a data engineering platform.
* SAP Analytics Cloud: This component focuses on analytics, reporting, dashboards, and enterprise planning. While it supports some AI-driven insights (e.g., through the Joule copilot), it is not designed for building advanced AI/ML models. The documentation states:
"SAP Analytics Cloud delivers enterprise analytics, reporting, dashboards, and unified planning." learning.sap.
com
* SAP Datasphere: This component provides data integration, federation, and semantic modeling, forming the foundation for data products inSAP Business Data Cloud. It supports analytics and can be extended with AI/ML, but it is not the primary tool for advanced AI/ML model development. The documentation notes:
"At the heart of SAP Business Data Cloud is SAP Datasphere, which provides the foundational structures that define the data model on top of the data products. ... scenarios with custom data models that can be manually extended with machine learning or AI." learning.sap.com The integration ofSAP DatabrickswithSAP Business Data Cloudis further emphasized as a key innovation for AI-driven use cases, particularly for handling both structured and unstructured data from SAP and non-SAP sources. For example:
"The integration with Databricks enables advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models, leveraging both SAP and third-party data." learning.sap.com This partnership with Databricks, a market leader in AI and ML, ensures thatSAP Databricksprovides robust tools for data scientists to work with harmonized data, making it the definitive solution for the question's requirements.
References:
Positioning SAP Business Data Cloud, learning.sap.com learning.sap.com
Illustrating the Role of SAP Databricks in SAP Business Data Cloud, learning.sap.com learning.sap.com Explaining the Key Components of SAP Business Data Cloud, learning.sap.com learning.sap.com Announcing the General Availability of SAP Databricks on SAP Business Data Cloud, Databricks Blog databricks.com