BDC Introduction & Architecture

As of 2026-05-29

BDC (announced Feb 2025) is SAP's bid to be the AI data control plane — it unifies three formerly-separate products (Datasphere, SAC, BW) plus an OEM'd Databricks engine into one managed SaaS plane. Layered architecture: governed SAP-managed data products (M033) → open lakehouse (Delta/Iceberg) → SAP Databricks engine (M034) → Insight Apps → Joule AI/agent layer (M046/M049). The point is "one plane" — SAP data arrives with business context preserved, so a measure means the same in SAC, Databricks, or Joule. Not a BW lift-and-shift, not SAC renamed, not a generic lakehouse — the value is the governed semantic foundation. <2,000 BDC architects worldwide vs 10,000+ needed by 2028 (§17.11) → steepest day-rate premium in the market.