Databricks has previewed a no-code version of its Data Intelligence platform — Databricks One — that aims to provide AI and BI tools to non-technical users through a conversational user interface.
According to analysts, Databricks One draws inspiration from Microsoft’s M365 Copilot strategy to reimagine the user interface of M365, centering on generative AI, and applies this approach to the enterprise data analytics tools that Databricks provides.
“Databricks One mirrors Microsoft’s M365-Copilot strategy in that it reimagines the user interface, although not for productivity apps, but for enterprise data and AI,” said Michael Ni, principal analyst at Constellation Research.
Speaking to ComputerWorld, last month, a top Microsoft executive said that the company was planning to move away from a typical apps based interface to a Copilot driven experience in the future: instead of accessing individual apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, users prompts Copilot with the task at hand and the generative AI assistant spins up the required application.
Databricks One similarly offers a simplified, AI-assisted access point to governed data, metrics, and insights, helping business teams engage without code or complexity.
“It’s not about replacing business intelligence (BI) tools, but about embedding decision intelligence into daily workflows,” Ni said.
One comes with AI/BI Dashboards and apps
As part of the One platform, which is currently in private preview and can be accessed by Data Intelligence platform subscribers for free, Databricks is offering AI/BI Dashboards, Genie, and Databricks Apps along with built-in governance and security features via Unity Catalog and the Databricks IAM platform.
While AI/BI Dashboards will enable non-technical enterprise users to create and access data visualizations and perform advanced analytics without writing code, Genie, a conversational assistant, will allow users to ask questions on their data using natural language.
The conversational assistant is also expected to support deep research on data as it understands business-specific semantics, the company said.
Additionally, Databricks Apps inside One will allow non-technical users to package complex workflows that interweave analytics, AI, and transactional processing in a custom app for a particular use case, the company said.
However, Moor Insights and Strategy principal analyst Robert Kramer pointed out that enterprises shouldn’t expect every advanced feature of the Data Intelligence platform to be baked inside One, despite it connecting to the same backend core engine of the platform and working on the same enterprise data.
Centralizing metadata on Databricks’ platform
Analysts see Databricks One as a vehicle for the lakehouse provider to drive stickiness of its products.
“Databricks One is a Trojan horse for garnering enterprise mindshare and an effort towards centralizing metadata on Databricks’ platform. The more users rely on One to make decisions, the more sticky the Databricks platform becomes,” said Constellation Research’s Ni.
The decision to launch One could be seen as Databricks’ first salvo in the next war engulfing the data and analytics space: It isn’t just about which vendor has captured more enterprise data, but which vendor helps enterprises understand it better and makes it easy to use for business scenarios or use cases, Ni added.
Although, when compared to rivals, Databricks’ approach to making analytics easier without code and accessible via natural language is not new, Kramer pointed out that Databricks One stands out.
“Other vendors like Snowflake (with Cortex AI) and Microsoft (with Fabric and Copilot) also offer natural language tools for business users. Databricks One stands out because it’s built directly into the lakehouse platform,” Kramer said. Separately, Databricks has also launched a free edition of its Data Intelligence platform in order to encourage users to try out the gamut of tools and capabilities that the platform offers.
Analysts see the free edition as a “classic category capture.”
While at one end it will help shape the talent ecosystem when it comes to Databricks’ stack, it is also a moat builder at the other end, Ni said, adding that the earlier developers and data analysts get hooked into Databricks, the harder it is for rivals to pry them loose later.
However, Kramer pointed out that the free edition only includes basic computing resources while placing limits on how many jobs or apps a user can run.
“It doesn’t include enterprise features like advanced security or large-scale storage,” Kramer said.
Databricks has not provided any information on the usage limitations of the free editions.
In contrast, rivals such as Snowflake offer free trials that usually expire after a set time, often 30 days.