Databricks One launches to bring AI tools to all employees
Databricks has announced the launch of Databricks One, a new platform designed to make data and artificial intelligence tools available to all business users within an organisation, regardless of technical background.
Databricks One introduces a code-free interface enabling users such as executives, frontline employees, and team members in finance, marketing, and sales to interact with their data using natural language queries. This update is part of a move to broaden access beyond engineers and data scientists.
Accessible analytics
The new offering allows employees to explore insights using AI-driven business intelligence dashboards and conversational tools such as AI/BI Genie. These features enable users to ask questions like "Why did sales spike in April?" or "Which region is underperforming and why?", with responses provided in plain language and supplemented by interactive data visualisations.
With this new release, the interface has been redesigned to suit non-technical users, making it easier for them to access and interpret the data relevant to their roles. The move aligns with Databricks' stated mission to make data and AI accessible at every organisational level. "Our mission at Databricks is to democratise data + AI. Every person of every skill level should have equal access to work with data and use AI. With Databricks One, we want to make our experience for non-technical users as amazing as our experience for technical users. This is our first step of making this true so that everyone across the organisation can unlock the full value of their data and drive innovation."
Ali Ghodsi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Databricks, underscored the company's aim of putting data-driven decision-making into the hands of all employees.
Platform functionality
Databricks One incorporates AI/BI Dashboards, allowing teams to generate visualisations and perform analytics such as forecasting and key driver analysis. Notably, none of this requires users to write code. The Genie assistant provides contextual insights and can answer questions using business-specific semantics, with future updates planned for "Deep Research," a feature to assist users in understanding root causes and summarising findings from the data.
Alongside analytics, Databricks One incorporates access to Databricks Apps, which are tools organisations can use to integrate workflows that blend analytics, AI, and transactional operations in applications tailored to business needs.
Underlying technology
Databricks One is built atop the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. This foundation brings several administrative and technical benefits, including a governance model supported by Unity Catalog, which enables centralised, fine-grained access controls, the organisation of resources by business domain, and consumption auditing.
Identity management is managed through direct integration with identity providers such as Entra AD and Okta, and the platform is free from seat-based licensing restrictions.
The platform utilises a serverless compute infrastructure to support interactive use at enterprise scale, which, according to Databricks, is offered at a competitive price-to-performance ratio.
Customer experiences
Organisations trialling Databricks One have highlighted the benefits of making dashboards and data tools available to a broader range of users. Christina Mottolo, Vice President of Business Applications at Wineshipping, remarked, "Through Databricks AI/BI, we developed a suite of dashboards—each of which could benefit any member of Wineshipping. With Databricks One, we will be able to securely deliver these dashboards in an environment that is intuitive and accessible for all users."
At HP, the new capabilities have been implemented to speed up and simplify access to insights. Bruce Hillsberg, Vice President of Data Engineering & Insights, Technology & Innovation at HP, said, "Genie is changing how we empower teams at HP. With its intuitive natural language interface, we're enabling users to instantly access critical data, no coding required, making data-driven insights faster and more efficiently."
Shahmeer Mirza, Senior Director of Data, AI/ML, and R&D at 7-Eleven, explained how the platform has shifted the internal workflow: "Our business teams have always relied on analysts for sales data and insights. Now, with Unity Catalog and Genie, we're empowering them to access data directly."
Availability
Databricks One is currently available in Private Preview for customers using the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform and is planned for a broader Beta release to all customers at no additional cost later in the summer.
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