AI in the Datasphere: On the Way to Business Data Fabric

AI is currently one of the central drivers of innovation in the IT world. It’s clear that we are also taking a look at this season's trend. In a small series, we would like to explore the state of AI in the Datasphere. Today's topic: Business Data Fabric.

The future belongs to data-driven organisations – this is one of the central headlines that jumps out at you while browsing the SAP websites. And immediately after, another term: 'Business Data Fabric'. According to SAP, every company needs this. Just like AI, without which nothing works anymore.

But what is behind this? Today, I would like to provide you with an overview of Business Data Fabric, so that you can both classify the terms and assess what is currently possible with SAP – and what is yet to come.

Data, data, Datasphere

Let’s start from the very beginning: To realise a 'data-driven organisation', you need a Business Data Fabric. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Because if you know me, you know: As a technician, I don’t engage much with sales slides and buzzwords. I prefer technical components and details over marketing terms.

So let’s take a look at a nice graphic to find out what a Business Data Fabric means in terms of SAP:

Source: SAP

From this, we read: The Data Fabric emerges when you have thought about the data flows for your company and orchestrate them as best as possible across systems and applications, meaning unify, cleanse, enrich, secure, and merge.

A strong technological foundation is necessary for this. After all, the goal is to provide company data in real-time to the right target audience.

Does this sound familiar? Then you have a good instinct, as I felt the same way. This has been and still is the previous goal with BW/4HANA and the existing reporting solutions.

But what is new about the SAP Business Data Fabric?

In fact, it is the tools that make the difference here. At the centre, SAP places the Datasphere, based on the Business Technology Platform. With Datasphere, connections to other systems can now be established much more easily than with BW/4HANA. SAP has many of these in its programme, including AI platforms (for which additional costs may apply).

Source: SAP

The implications are far-reaching: A scenario where, for example, social media data needs to be linked with SAP data can now be implemented much more easily with Datasphere in the middle, as the connection types are available 'Out of the Box'.

The exciting part is that this will soon set few limits on creativity in data analysis. Just recently, a similar idea as shown above emerged with one of my clients – and now, thanks to Datasphere, it can be implemented with manageable effort. We will see where our journey takes us. I promise: I will keep you updated…

Information

Contribution 1 to the series 'AI in the Datasphere' can be found here.