Quick Look:

  • SAP announced on Monday (October 2025) that its Business Data Cloud platform is now connected to Google Cloud's BigQuery data warehouse. The pipeline, called BDC Connect, allows customers to transfer data between the two environments for analytics and AI capabilities. SAP BDC Connect for Google BigQuery is the first hyperscaler integration.
  • "We are helping enterprises build a unified data foundation, breaking down data silos, and unlocking the capabilities of a new generation of AI agents and applications," said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in the announcement.
  • SAP built BDC using Databricks' data cloud, which launched in February and became generally available on April 30. Irfan Khan, president and chief product officer of SAP's database and analytics division, told CIO Dive that the company plans more integrations. "We have covered two important endpoints," he said. "Over time, we will extend BDC Connect to all existing systems."

Deep Dive:

Enterprise data assets power the adoption of generative AI, while data silos become obstacles to large-scale deployment.

When SAP launched BDC, it put AI and data processes on the agenda. The company aims to achieve interoperability among data repositories within the SAP ecosystem, which includes Concur expense reporting software, SuccessFactors HR platform, Ariba supply chain management tools, as well as external integrations.

"SAP has 65 to 70 billion euros worth of acquired companies, each with their own pre-built environments," Khan said. "That's what Business Data Cloud addresses: if customers have two or more SAP solutions, we at least need to bring them together."

The integration efforts are driven by the opportunities presented by generative AI and SAP's ongoing push to move on-premises ERP customers to the cloud.

"The biggest pain point for SAP customers has always been getting SAP's various modules to work together," Scott Bickley, advisory researcher at Info-Tech Research Group, told CIO Dive.

Configuration issues also make it difficult for users to bring external data into the SAP ecosystem and vice versa, Bickley said.

"It's not that they can't provide these integrations, but they choose not to because it's costly and requires a lot of effort," Bickley said.

The emergence of agentic tools and increased competition from other vendors offering data mesh capabilities have driven SAP's efforts, Bickley added.

"Salesforce and Workday have already released data clouds in some form, and they all have similar principles and zero-copy sharing concepts, meaning data can be shared without physical duplication," Khan said. "Databricks and Snowflake have been incubators for this approach."

In addition to the Google Cloud pipeline, which SAP plans to fully launch in the first half of next year, SAP has also expanded its AI portfolio by adding role-based agents. These automation tools include compensation anomaly resolution and cash management agents, which reside in SAP's Joule generative AI assistant, according to another Monday announcement.

BDC Connect is the engine driving the expansion of SAP's agent capabilities.

"They need data to flow back and forth between third-party and SAP systems, as well as within SAP, so that their AI programs and agents can work properly," Bickley said. "Necessity breeds innovation."