From newly accessible large language models (LLMs) to innovations in generative AI, we have more powerful AI technology at our fingertips than ever before.
This means anyone can — and should — benefit from AI technology for data use cases, especially in a time when businesses are focused on maximizing efficiency. Everyone across the enterprise should be able to take advantage of AI to increase productivity, drive richer insights, and tackle specific business problems.
Alteryx and Databricks both believe that when more employees across skill sets can use the best AI technology and architecture available, they can accomplish more with data. That’s why Alteryx is excited to continue expanding our joint solutions with Databricks, making it easier for more customers to drive value with data and AI.
Alteryx and Databricks, Working Together
Today, Alteryx announced that the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform now integrates with the Databricks Lakehouse Platform. Users can now harness the benefits of the Databricks lakehouse architecture with Alteryx’s intuitive, no-code experience.
Here’s a rundown of the new capabilities we’re bringing to the Alteryx + Databricks experience:
- Access Databricks data from the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform: Connect with Databricks to access the datasets you need, transform that data, and reach insights, all from the no-code, GUI-based Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform interface.
- Pushdown processing in Designer Cloud: Designer Cloud will now support pushdown for Databricks Spark.
- Support for Databricks Unity Catalog: Unity Catalog provides a common security and governance model for all of your data, analytics, and AI assets in the Databricks lakehouse on any cloud. Alteryx support for Unity Catalog means you can centralize and govern access to data across environments.
But what does this ultimately mean for your business? It means you can get all hands on deck and empower all teams to get more value out of your data stack.
Here are a few examples:
Increase productivity for your AI/ML use cases
It’s a challenge to get data production-ready for AI/ML workloads. Collecting, cleaning, and preparing data takes forever, and then even after all that, you still need to know how to build the model. The Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform changes that. Now, non-technical users can prepare and investigate datasets in Designer Cloud using its no-code interface and build models in Alteryx Machine Learning – while leveraging data from Databricks.
And with Alteryx AiDIN, our newly announced AI engine that infuses generative AI and machine learning across the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform, users have help along the way to generate smarter insights in less time.
Reduce costs with a streamlined stack
The Databricks Lakehouse architecture unifies the data warehouse and data lake in one platform. The Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform streamlines this even further by giving employees one accessible interface to leverage the Lakehouse. This reduces the number of tools and stacks you might be using to enable varied skill sets.
And when you execute a Designer Cloud workflow with pushdown in Databricks, you’re using the powerful Databricks engine to process your data without needing to switch between platforms.
Databricks delivers low-cost and high performance for three reasons:
- Your data stays in cloud-native storage, so you’re not paying for extra copies
- Databricks has a powerful processing engine, with Delta Lake and Photon technologies at your fingertips
- Databricks has an efficient, scalable ETL engine
By using Designer Cloud, you’re getting these benefits with no extra effort or skills required. Your user isn’t leaving the platform, and your data isn’t leaving the Lakehouse!
Break down silos between skill sets
It’s not efficient to reserve pieces of the analytics process for a specific role or coding language. If you want to connect the dots between data and value, you need to connect the dots between your technical experts and your line-of-business experts. The new connectivity between Databricks and the Alteryx Analytics Cloud Platform will facilitate easier collaboration between varied roles and preferences, while ensuring the right governance and access.
Together, Alteryx and Databricks enable organizations to build an enterprise-wide culture of data literacy and run analytics at a massive scale. If you’re ready to drive more results for your data and leverage AI, you can learn more here.