A few weeks ago, drawing on my experience with customers and the key announcements from FabCon Europe in Vienna, I wrote about how Microsoft Fabric is redefining the future of enterprise data intelligence platforms. Today, I want to share my takeaways from Microsoft Ignite 2025 in San Francisco.

At Ignite, SAP and Microsoft, Arun Ulag unveiled SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Microsoft Fabric — a breakthrough integration that brings SAP and non-SAP data together in a single environment. This new, bi-directional, zero-copy data-sharing capability between SAP’s Business Data Cloud (BDC) and Microsoft Fabric’s OneLake gives enterprises instant access to business-ready SAP data for analytics and AI — again, without moving or duplicating data.

As Scott Guthrie emphasized, “With SAP Business Data Cloud and Microsoft Fabric, we’re delivering a trusted foundation for analytics and AI, and helping our customers move faster, make smarter decisions, and turn insight into real business outcomes”. I couldn’t agree more.

When you add to this the fact that organizations already using Azure Databricks can maintain their existing environment and connect to SAP BDC through the Delta Sharing connector, the opportunity becomes even more compelling.

Organizations running SAP BDC on Microsoft Azure can now combine mission-critical SAP data with all their other enterprise data under one unified, governed platform, unlocking a true 360° view of the business.

Let’s get into it.

Why Customers Should Care

1. A Unified Data Foundation based on Open Format — Organizations can now bring SAP and non-SAP data together under a single, governed estate in OneLake (which is part of Microsoft Fabric) and Azure Databricks. This provides consistent business logic, strong governance, and a semantic layer that makes data truly AI-ready. No more silos—just instant access to trusted, business-ready insights.

2. Unlock the Full Value of SAP Data — SAP powers mission-critical processes (such as finance, supply chain, operations) and integrating that data with non-SAP sources is essential for holistic insights and AI scenarios. ASUG research shows that 88% of SAP customers are integrating SAP with non-SAP applications in 2025, an 11% increase since 2023. The cost of standing still? Missed opportunities for innovation, agility, and competitive advantage.

3. Accelerate Analytics and AI at Scale — Zero-copy, bi-directional integration between SAP Business Data Cloud and Microsoft Fabric enables advanced analytics, Copilot experiences, and AI applications without the traditional complexity of ETL or data movement. Organizations can now build intelligent agents and apps grounded in real operational data.

4. Simplify and Standardize Your Data Landscape By harmonizing data across systems, organizations reduce complexity and strengthen governance and compliance. This not only streamlines analytics but also reinforces Azure as the strategic platform for SAP workloads.

Bringing SAP and Non-SAP Data Together: Two Integration Paths

SAP and Microsoft now offer three powerful ways to unify enterprise data across SAP and non-SAP systems—each designed to accelerate analytics and AI while simplifying data architecture.

Option 1: SAP Datasphere + Azure Databricks

The SAP BDC Connector for Azure Databricks enables seamless and secure data sharing between SAP BDC and the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. It allows organizations to access and analyze SAP BDC data directly from their Unity Catalog–enabled Azure Databricks workspace, eliminating data silos while reducing the complexity and cost associated with traditional data extraction. In addition, SAP Datasphere (formerly SAP Data Warehouse Cloud) provides real-time integration with Azure Databricks through its data federation architecture and BDC Connect.

Integration Steps:

• Establish secure connectivity between SAP Datasphere and Databricks Delta Lake using supported connectors (e.g., JDBC).

• Configure virtual tables in SAP Datasphere to reference live Databricks data without moving it.

• Augment federated data with SAP business context to build unified semantic models.

• Use SAP Analytics Cloud to visualize and analyze real-time insights.

Benefits:

• Real-time access to SAP and non-SAP data without duplication.

• Unified semantic layer for consistent business logic across platforms.

• Scalable analytics and AI with Databricks’ full ML lifecycle support.

• Streamlined data engineering and governance via Unity Catalog.

You can learn more here: Introducing SAP Databricks (Published on February 13, 2025 by Ali Ghodsi, Reynold Xin, Arsalan Tavakoli and Michael Kiermaier)

Option 2: SAP Business Data Cloud + Microsoft Fabric

SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) Connect for Microsoft Fabric enables a unified data foundation that helps organizations gain insights faster and scale their AI strategy. The SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Microsoft Fabric is planned to be generally available in Q3 CY2026).

Integration Steps:

• Use Zero-Copy Mirroring to seamlessly integrate SAP data into Microsoft OneLake—Fabric’s AI-ready data lake.

• Build semantically rich models and enable Copilot-powered analytics in Power BI.

• Use Fabric’s AI Foundry to develop intelligent applications grounded in SAP business data.

Benefits:

• No data replication—bi-directional, zero-copy sharing between SAP BDC and Microsoft Fabric.

• Unified analytics and AI across SAP and non-SAP data sources.

• Secure, governed data foundation available across multiple Azure regions.

• Seamless access to SAP data within Microsoft 365 tools like Excel and Teams.

You can learn more here: SAP and Microsoft accelerate business insights and AI innovation with SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Microsoft Fabric (Published on November 18, 2025 by Arun Ulag)

PS. The SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Microsoft Fabric is planned to be generally available in Q3 2026.

Option 3: SAP Mirroring for Microsoft Fabric

At Ignite, the SAP Mirroring for Microsoft Fabric was also announced as Private preview. This new mirroring capability offers native integration of SAP data into OneLake using SAP Datasphere or ABAP-based replication.

Integration Steps:

• Organizations will be able to choose between two mirroring options. First, Datasphere Replication (now, Public Preview), which replicates SAP data to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 before it is mirrored into OneLake; and second, ABAP Replication (now, Private Preview), an ABAP add-on installed on SAP servers that mirrors selected tables directly into OneLake.

• Configure mirroring to maintain zero-copy semantics and ensure data freshness.

• Use Fabric’s analytics and AI tools to consume mirrored SAP data alongside other enterprise sources.

Benefits:

• Native mirroring experience with broad support for SAP applications (S/4HANA, ECC, BW).

• No code / low code for data movement.

• Cost-efficient storage with no duplication or additional storage overhead—you pay only for compute when used. The Mirroring storage cost is free up to a limit based on capacity.

• Seamless governance and security across SAP and Microsoft platforms.

• Enables real-time analytics and AI on SAP data within Microsoft Fabric.

Conclusion

The integration of SAP Business Data Cloud with Microsoft Fabric marks a pivotal moment for enterprise data strategy. By eliminating silos and enabling zero-copy, bi-directional data sharing, organizations can unlock real-time insights, accelerate AI adoption, and simplify their data landscape—all on a trusted, unified foundation. Whether through Fabric’s OneLake or Azure Databricks, the message is clear: the future of analytics and AI depends on seamless interoperability, governance, and scalability. For businesses, this is not just an evolution—it’s an opportunity to lead in a data-driven world.

The future of analytics and AI depends on seamless interoperability, governance, and scalability

Ready to experience the future of enterprise data? Test the integration now and explore how SAP BDC and Microsoft Fabric can transform your data strategy. Contact your Microsoft representative or visit the official Fabric portal to start your trial today.