5 Reasons Why Azure Databricks is the Best Data + AI Platform on Azure

As data and AI workloads scale, organizations need a platform that does more than just connect services—it must unify them. Azure Databricks brings together the full power of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform with deep Azure integrations to simplify and accelerate every step of the data lifecycle. From centralized governance and open data formats to built-in warehousing and native AI tools, Azure Databricks enables teams to move faster, reduce complexity, and innovate responsibly. Trusted by thousands of customers, including major enterprises such as AT&T, Swiss Re, JLL, CVS Health, HSBC, Shell, and Walgreens, Azure Databricks is a proven platform at scale.

Here's a closer look at five key reasons why data and AI teams are choosing Azure Databricks as their unified platform for analytics and AI at scale.

1. Unified governance for data + AI

Azure Databricks includes Unity Catalog, the unified governance solution that allows organizations to use one approach to manage all their data and AI assets. Whether it’s tables, files, notebooks, models, or dashboards, Unity Catalog enables teams to set access policies once and apply them consistently across all workloads.

Unity Catalog’s Lakehouse Federation lets you mount existing data with zero copy from systems such as SQL Server, BigQuery, Snowflake and storage such as ADLS or S3. You can also connect to existing Iceberg or Hive Catalogs.

As part of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform on Azure, Unity Catalog helps ensure enterprise-grade security and lineage tracking, and interoperability with Microsoft Purview, eliminating the need for multiple disconnected governance tools. Unity Catalog helps ensure discoverability, enterprise-grade security and lineage tracking for your Azure Databricks assets, with the ability to extend this to your entire data estate by combining with Microsoft Purview.

"Unity Catalog has been a game-changer for our business because now we are able to provide fine-grained control and access to our data."

— Manish Danani, Senior Director for AI Platforms and Engineering, Mars

2. Deep integrations across the Azure ecosystem

Azure Databricks is fully integrated within the Azure ecosystem, offering first-party, native connectors and streamlined experiences across:

• Power BI – publish directly from Unity Catalog and Databricks Workflows with full semantic model support
• Azure OpenAI Service – combine large language models with enterprise data securely and responsibly. In addition to Azure OpenAI, Azure Databricks gives you model choice including exclusive access to Anthropic Claude models hosted on Azure Databricks and open-source models like Meta’s Llama 4
• Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Data Factory, Entra ID, and Microsoft Purview – unify storage, identity, pipeline orchestration, and compliance in one stack. New in Azure Data Factory, the native Databricks Job activity makes it easier than ever to trigger Databricks Workflows natively.
• Azure AI Foundry – run Azure Databricks Jobs and integrate Azure Databricks AI/BI Genie with Foundry Agents to deliver contextual, enterprise-aware answers
• Microsoft Power Platform – seamlessly power your apps, automations, and agent workflows with governed data, all without duplicating it

With a couple of clicks from the Azure Portal, you have a fully integrated environment, with all of your users and groups from Entra ID available to build data and AI systems.

The prebuilt integrations reduce architectural overhead and accelerate time to insight, helping customers take full advantage of the Azure-native Databricks experience.

"Azure Databricks works across the ecosystem. We've got a data platform here that's very rich, that uses so many different aspects of the Microsoft stack. Databricks is open and orchestrates well across the different platforms."

— Helius Guimaraes, Chief Data & AI Officer, Fonterra

3. Built-in data warehousing with performance and flexibility

With the Databricks SQL data warehouse, customers can serve modern SQL analytics and BI use cases directly within Azure Databricks, without requiring a separate warehouse or creating copies of data. Data remains in an open format, not locked into a proprietary system, enabling business analysts and data engineers to collaborate on a single platform that supports:

• High-concurrency, low-latency dashboards and ad hoc queries using standard SQL
• Direct Power BI integration with full governance via Unity Catalog
• Natural language querying through AI/BI Genie, making insights accessible to more users

"With Azure Databricks serving as the Data Intelligence Platform complemented with Microsoft's Power BI, the business outcome has been profound. Our use cases, like annuities digital threat, has had a multi-million dollar impact on winbacks."

— Raju Mudunuri, Senior Manager of IT Data Solutions, Lexmark International

This level of performance and simplicity reflects the power of Azure Databricks, enabling teams to unify their analytics layer without compromising governance or scale.

4. AI development made simple

Whether you're building LLM-powered copilots, fine-tuning proprietary models, or running classic machine learning workloads, Azure Databricks offers the flexibility to do it all while keeping governance and observability at the forefront.

Through integrations with Azure OpenAI, open source models like Llama 4, and support for providers like Anthropic, customers can:

• Choose the right model for the right use case
• Customize with your enterprise data and serve models securely within governed environments
• Monitor cost and performance through built-in observability tools

The unified architecture of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform on Azure makes all of this possible, simplifying AI development and aligning with enterprise security requirements.

5. High performance with low TCO

Azure Databricks is optimized for both performance and efficiency. With the Photon engine, workloads run faster while consuming fewer resources, resulting in real, measurable savings for data and AI teams. Key benefits include:

• 6x faster performance than legacy warehouse engines
• Consumption-based pricing - pay only for what you use
• AI-powered auto-optimization, reducing the need for manual tuning

"As part of our adoption of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, we have observed a tremendous amount of data quality improvement, faster insights by at least 25%."

— Raju Mudunuri, Senior Manager of IT Data Solutions, Lexmark International

These capabilities reflect the design principles of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform on Azure: open, intelligent, and cost-efficient.

Accelerate innovation with Azure Databricks

From analytics to GenAI, Azure Databricks provides a unified foundation for innovation. As part of your Microsoft Azure environment, Azure Databricks enables you to build smarter, move faster, and govern everything in one place, whether you’re scaling BI, accelerating AI, or simplifying your data estate. Hear more how leading enterprises are unlocking faster insights, better data quality, and tangible cost savings using Azure Databricks.

Get Started with a Free 14-day Trial of Azure Databricks.