As information and AI workloads scale, organizations want a platform that does extra than simply join companies—it should unify them. Azure Databricks brings collectively the complete energy of the Databricks Information Intelligence Platform with deep Azure integrations to simplify and speed up each step of the info lifecycle. From centralized governance and open information codecs to built-in warehousing and native AI instruments, Azure Databricks permits groups to maneuver quicker, scale back complexity, and innovate responsibly. Trusted by 1000’s of shoppers, together with main enterprises akin to AT&T, Swiss Re, JLL, CVS Well being, HSBC, Shell, and Walgreens, Azure Databricks is a confirmed platform at scale.
This is a better take a look at 5 key explanation why information and AI groups are selecting Azure Databricks as their unified platform for analytics and AI at scale.
1. Unified governance for information + AI
Azure Databricks contains Unity Catalog, the unified governance answer that enables organizations to make use of one method to handle all their information and AI property. Whether or not it’s tables, recordsdata, notebooks, fashions, or dashboards, Unity Catalog permits groups to set entry insurance policies as soon as and apply them constantly throughout all workloads.
Unity Catalog’s Lakehouse Federation permits you to mount present information with zero copy from methods akin to SQL Server, BigQuery, Snowflake and storage akin to ADLS or S3. It’s also possible to connect with present Iceberg or Hive Catalogs.
As a part of the Databricks Information Intelligence Platform on Azure, Unity Catalog helps guarantee enterprise-grade safety and lineage monitoring, and interoperability with Microsoft Purview, eliminating the necessity for a number of disconnected governance instruments. Unity Catalog helps guarantee discoverability, enterprise-grade safety and lineage monitoring in your Azure Databricks property, with the power to increase this to your total information property by combining with Microsoft Purview.
“Unity Catalog has been a game-changer for our enterprise as a result of now we’re in a position to present fine-grained management and entry to our information.”
2. Deep integrations throughout the Azure ecosystem
Azure Databricks is totally built-in inside the Azure ecosystem, providing first-party, native connectors and streamlined experiences throughout:
- Energy BI – publish straight from Unity Catalog and Databricks Workflows with full semantic mannequin help
- Azure OpenAI Service – mix giant language fashions with enterprise information securely and responsibly. Along with Azure OpenAI, Azure Databricks provides you mannequin alternative together with unique entry to Anthropic Claude fashions hosted on Azure Databricks and open-source fashions like Meta’s Llama 4
- Azure Information Lake Storage, Azure Information Manufacturing facility, Entra ID, and Microsoft Purview – unify storage, identification, pipeline orchestration, and compliance in a single stack. New in Azure Information Manufacturing facility, the native Databricks Job exercise makes it simpler than ever to set off Databricks Workflows natively.
- Azure AI Foundry – run Azure Databricks Jobs and combine Azure Databricks AI/BI Genie with Foundry Brokers to ship contextual, enterprise-aware solutions
- Microsoft Energy Platform – seamlessly energy your apps, automations, and agent workflows with ruled information, all with out duplicating it
With a few clicks from the Azure Portal, you could have a completely built-in atmosphere, with all your customers and teams from Entra ID out there to construct information and AI methods.
The prebuilt integrations scale back architectural overhead and speed up time to perception, serving to clients take full benefit of the Azure-native Databricks expertise.
“Azure Databricks works throughout the ecosystem. We have got a knowledge platform right here that is very wealthy, that makes use of so many alternative features of the Microsoft stack. Databricks is open and orchestrates nicely throughout the totally different platforms.”
3. Constructed-in information warehousing with efficiency and suppleness
With the Databricks SQL information warehouse, clients can serve fashionable SQL analytics and BI use circumstances straight inside Azure Databricks, with out requiring a separate warehouse or creating copies of knowledge. Information stays in an open format, not locked right into a proprietary system, enabling enterprise analysts and information engineers to collaborate on a single platform that helps:
- Excessive-concurrency, low-latency dashboards and advert hoc queries utilizing normal SQL
- Direct Energy BI integration with full governance through Unity Catalog
- Pure language querying by AI/BI Genie, making insights accessible to extra customers
“With Azure Databricks serving because the Information Intelligence Platform complemented with Microsoft’s Energy BI, the enterprise final result has been profound. Our use circumstances, like annuities digital risk, has had a multi-million greenback impression on winbacks.”
This degree of efficiency and ease displays the facility of Azure Databricks, enabling groups to unify their analytics layer with out compromising governance or scale.
4. AI growth made easy
Whether or not you are constructing LLM-powered copilots, fine-tuning proprietary fashions, or operating traditional machine studying workloads, Azure Databricks presents the flexibleness to do all of it whereas protecting governance and observability on the forefront.
By means of integrations with Azure OpenAI, open supply fashions like Llama 4, and help for suppliers like Anthropic, clients can:
- Select the precise mannequin for the precise use case
- Customise together with your enterprise information and serve fashions securely inside ruled environments
- Monitor price and efficiency by built-in observability instruments
The unified structure of the Databricks Information Intelligence Platform on Azure makes all of this doable, simplifying AI growth and aligning with enterprise safety necessities.
5. Excessive efficiency with low TCO
Azure Databricks is optimized for each efficiency and effectivity. With the Photon engine, workloads run quicker whereas consuming fewer assets, leading to actual, measurable financial savings for information and AI groups. Key advantages embrace:
- 6x quicker efficiency than legacy warehouse engines
- Consumption-based pricing – pay just for what you utilize
- AI-powered auto-optimization, lowering the necessity for guide tuning
“As a part of our adoption of the Databricks Information Intelligence Platform, we now have noticed an amazing quantity of knowledge high quality enchancment, quicker insights by a minimum of 25%.”
These capabilities replicate the design ideas of the Databricks Information Intelligence Platform on Azure: open, clever, and cost-efficient.
Speed up innovation with Azure Databricks
From analytics to GenAI, Azure Databricks gives a unified basis for innovation. As a part of your Microsoft Azure atmosphere, Azure Databricks allows you to construct smarter, transfer quicker, and govern all the things in a single place, whether or not you’re scaling BI, accelerating AI, or simplifying your information property. Hear extra how main enterprises are unlocking quicker insights, higher information high quality, and tangible price financial savings utilizing Azure Databricks.
Get Began with a Free 14-day Trial of Azure Databricks.
