SoftBank Teams with Databricks on Enterprise AI Platform

Tokyo, Japan - SoftBank Corp said it has begun offering data consulting services to domestic enterprises through a partnership with U.S. software company Databricks Inc.

The service combines Databricks' data management platform with SoftBank's consulting capabilities, targeting Japanese companies seeking to consolidate their fragmented corporate information systems.

SoftBank will provide consulting on data requirements, governance frameworks, and organizational structures alongside access to Databricks' Data Intelligence Platform, which processes both structured and unstructured data formats within a unified system.

This platform integrates data lakes and data warehouses, enabling companies to store various types of data while performing real-time analysis and developing AI models.

Corporate customers can use this system to analyze sales performance and customer information, enabling them to make informed operational decisions and utilize data analysis results for targeted marketing activities.

SoftBank has operated Databricks' platform internally since 2020, consolidating financial data, human resources information, and telecommunications infrastructure data across its business units. 

The company stated that it utilizes this integrated data for executive decision-making and marketing purposes while also managing sensitive information, including personal data.

Corporate data fragmentation across departments and applications has limited effective utilization. 

As data management becomes increasingly central to business operations, companies stated that this issue is becoming more pronounced.

SoftBank Executive Vice President Hayato Sakurai stated that the partnership would enable the company to "maximize the use of our data and strengthen corporate competitiveness" through the Databricks platform.

Databricks Japan President Toshifumi Sasa said the collaboration would help Japanese companies "build data intelligence specialized for solving business-specific challenges based on their unique data."

SoftBank has indicated plans to integrate the service with data from its group subsidiary, LINE Yahoo, and with "Cristal Intelligence," an enterprise artificial intelligence system under development by OpenAI and the SoftBank Group.

Databricks operates as a portfolio company within SoftBank Vision Fund 2. 

The Data Intelligence Platform integrates customer data with AI models tailored to specific business applications, supporting informed corporate decision-making processes.