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Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs SAP Business Data Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
Users find Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse effective in managing data, integrating tools, with ROI potential despite indirect tracking.
Sentiment score
4.3
Users observed ROI from SAP Business Data Cloud via cost savings, efficiency, and faster returns, especially in specific industries.
We have saved a lot on the number of employees, and implementation time for the projects has reduced significantly since we started using the standard features of SAP Business Data Cloud.
Principal Architect at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
Once the content is available, then it is a faster go-live with lesser cost in implementation, and that would give an ROI.
Director & Co Owner at INFRABEAT TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD
It will definitely reduce the need for more staff to handle this technology.
SAP BDC Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse support is generally positive with responsive service, though some suggest enhancements in speed and Azure expertise.
Sentiment score
6.1
SAP Business Data Cloud support has mixed reviews, praised for responsiveness but criticized for delays and complex case handling.
They are responsive and get back to us.
Service Desk Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate my experience with technical support around six on a scale of 1 to 10 because I have not had a particular experience with technical support.
CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions
I would give the technical support for SAP Business Data Cloud a 10 out of 10.
Business Data Lead (Egypt And North Africa) at Reckitt Benckiser
On a scale from 0 to 10, I would rate their support 10 out of 10.
Manager at Syntegon
The technical support is a very well-organized service, with a lot of tools for me as a consultant and for the end user on how to contact SAP support and get issues solved.
Competence Leader - BI at Sabris CZ s.r.o.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is scalable with SQL benefits, but may lag behind Snowflake in large data handling.
Sentiment score
7.0
SAP Business Data Cloud is scalable, integrates well with systems, and efficiently supports enterprise data and reporting needs.
We go from a couple of users to tons of users all the time, and it scales and handles things really well.
Service Desk Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I give the scalability an eight out of ten, indicating it scales well for our needs.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
As a consultant, we hire additional programmers when we need to scale up certain major projects.
Associate Director at Sequentis
The scalability of SAP Business Data Cloud has been strong, as it has handled growth in data volume, user demand, and reporting requirements without significant performance issues.
Technique at Digitaltrack
It meets the needs of organizations requiring cloud-native architecture, support for large-scale SAP and non-SAP integrations, elastic compute and storage capabilities, and enterprise-grade governance.
Firmware Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
SAP Analytics Cloud can be used by a small company, and it can be used by a large corporate.
Competence Leader - BI at Sabris CZ s.r.o.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is stable, reliable, handles large volumes well, with occasional speed issues on vast datasets.
Sentiment score
7.5
SAP Business Data Cloud is highly rated for reliability, though occasional downtime occurs during updates or with large datasets.
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is stable for us because it is built on SQL Server.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
You have a chance to test it on your test tenant in small increments, so it should not break your productive reports and productive environment.
Competence Leader - BI at Sabris CZ s.r.o.
It has been reliable for reporting, analytics, and data integration activities.
network security engineer at digital track solutions pvt ltd
This really allowed virtual access to data, which means there was no heavy replication of data involved, greatly improving performance.
Associate Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse needs better tool integration, scalability, compatibility, frequent updates, competitive pricing, and enhanced error messaging.
SAP Business Data Cloud requires improvements in cost, integration, performance, AI capabilities, and user onboarding for broader adoption.
It would be better to release patches less frequently, maybe once a month or once every two months.
Associate Director at Sequentis
Addressing the cost would be the number one area for improvement.
CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions
When there are many users or many expensive queries, it can be very slow.
Computer engineer at a engineering company with 5,001-10,000 employees
On the other hand, it is perfectly fitting to the SAP environment, with seamless integration to all SAP modules, not only ERP but also SuccessFactors and other tools from the SAP family.
Competence Leader - BI at Sabris CZ s.r.o.
If SAP can come up with innovative options to reduce licensing costs, many customers would incline toward SAP Business Data Cloud.
Principal Architect at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
If I compare the cost with SAP competitors, I find that when creating an enterprise data lake, if I don't use SAP Business Data Cloud and make it directly in the hyperscalers, it is pretty much cheaper than doing the same in SAP Business Data Cloud.
Director & Co Owner at INFRABEAT TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse offers competitive pricing, suitable for large enterprises, but can be costly for high-performance needs.
SAP Business Data Cloud is valued for integration but criticized for high costs and lack of pricing transparency.
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is very expensive.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
If I compare the cost with SAP competitors, I find that when creating an enterprise data lake, if I don't use SAP Business Data Cloud and make it directly in the hyperscalers, it is pretty much cheaper than doing the same in SAP Business Data Cloud.
Director & Co Owner at INFRABEAT TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD
From a planning license perspective, SAC on that side is very expensive if you need developer features.
Director Of Analytics at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
SAP Business Data Cloud is at a disadvantage when compared to tools like Talend or Informatica, which are cheaper and more capable.
Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse boosts data loads, integrates with Power BI, and offers scalable BI with minimal costs.
SAP Business Data Cloud offers user-friendly analytics, AI integration, real-time reporting, and zero-copy data sharing for efficient management.
The columnstore index enhances data query performance by using less space and achieving faster performance than general indexing.
BI/Data Warehouse Analyst at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is used in the logistics area for optimizing SQL queries related to the loading and unloading of trucks.
Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
There's a feature that allows users to set alerts on triggers within reports, enabling timely actions on pending applications and effectively reducing waiting time.
Associate Director at Sequentis
For SuccessFactors and S/4HANA Cloud, there are pre-built reports available which are commonly used by customers.
Project Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
SAP Business Data Cloud has positively impacted my organization by federating SAP data, which is now available for all to use.
Associate director, SAP technical at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The main standout feature is BDC Connect, as it is very useful for sharing data without replicating to third-party tools such as Enterprise Databricks, Snowflake or even in the near future, Google BigQuery as well as Microsoft Fabric.
Principal Architect at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Parallel Data War...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (9th)
SAP Business Data Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
121
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (6th), BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (3rd), Business Performance Management (2nd), Cloud Analytics (2nd), Predictive Analytics (2nd), Data Governance (4th), Cloud Data Warehouse (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

HassanFatemi - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions
Has handled large volumes of data effectively but still needs cost flexibility
There could be improvements on the cost side of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse because it is still considered to be quite expensive by a lot of users, and many companies are not interested in solutions with parallel data warehousing due to this expense. Addressing the cost would be the number one area for improvement. Additionally, I have not worked recently with it, so I don't know if this feature already exists, but if it doesn't, having an elastic feature that adjusts the service's power dynamically based on the workload would be beneficial instead of fixing the power at a specific level.
Pavlina Pankova - PeerSpot reviewer
Competence Leader - BI at Sabris CZ s.r.o.
Brings reporting, planning, and prediction together in one seamless workflow
I think the areas of SAP Analytics Cloud that could be improved or enhanced are mentioned by users or companies, and they would definitely mention the price in terms of planning licensing. From a consulting point of view, I don't see any major weaknesses. It is reasonably well-developed, and the perfect strength is that innovations are coming on a quarterly basis. It is slightly behind other tools in terms of the number of graphical outputs. Some tools have it faster, but every increment of innovations contains new features. On the other hand, it is perfectly fitting to the SAP environment, with seamless integration to all SAP modules, not only ERP but also SuccessFactors and other tools from the SAP family, for example, integrated business planning for the production planning. This is really a highlight compared to other tools.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Media Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise77
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?
The pricing could be better; I think it actually just went up.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?
The basic use case for us is virtual machines. In real estate, we use it for our operations. They handle large data sets well, and the performance is good during those times.
Which would you choose - Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud?
Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Analytics Cloud?
I normally do not deal with the commercials, so I am not aware of the pricing part of it.
What needs improvement with SAP Analytics Cloud?
I think the areas of SAP Analytics Cloud that could be improved or enhanced are mentioned by users or companies, and they would definitely mention the price in terms of planning licensing. From a c...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft PDW, SQL Server Data Warehouse, Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse, MS Parallel Data Warehouse
SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Digital Boardroom, SAP Analytics Hub
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Auckland Transport, Erste Bank Group, Urban Software Institute, NJVC, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe
Ericsson, Vodafone, Google, Team Liquid, Ryder Cup, Accenture
Find out what your peers are saying about Snowflake Computing, Teradata, Google and others in Cloud Data Warehouse. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.