SAP Datasphere To Simplify Access to Business Data

SAP has launched a new data service and strategic partnerships to address the challenges associated with accessing business data stored across multiple systems and applications.

The company on Wednesday introduced SAP Datasphere, a service that aims to give data professionals simplified access to mission-critical business data and metadata from SAP applications. Built on SAP Business Technology Platform, Datasphere provides capabilities that enhance data discovery and integration, semantic modeling, data warehousing, data federation, and virtualization. Existing SAP customers will see the new functionalities in their products moving forward, with no need for migration. 

In addition to Datasphere, SAP announced partnerships with data management and AI companies Collibra, Confluent, Databricks, and DataRobot. SAP said these partnerships will give customers access to a unified data fabric architecture that combines SAP software data and data from their partner companies. 

“Everybody wants access to SAP data, so leveraging partnerships among tech suppliers is absolutely necessary for a comprehensive data strategy,” said IDC group vice president of data and analytics market Dan Vesset.

According to SAP, SAP customers already make up nearly 87% of the global commerce landscape, making SAP data some of the most crucial assets and functions of a business, affecting everything from manufacturing to supply chain to HR departments.

Related:The Case for a Strong Data Governance Program in 2023

What SAP Datasphere and Partnerships Offer IT Pros

Data platforms are typically not built to communicate with one another. That can require engineers to round up data and often lose critical business context that must be reconstructed. Businesses spend significant time and money attempting to recapture lost data through ongoing IT projects. “Eighty percent of the time spent on a data project is recreating context lost in these roundups,” said SAP chief marketing officer Julia White in a press conference on Tuesday.

SAP’s goal is to centralize data with a business data architecture fabric that reduces the time and effort required to access data across cloud providers, vendors, and on-premises systems while delivering data with logic and context intact.

“The most competitive businesses are ones with seamless access to their data,” White noted.