## Compute-Free Data Access in Excel: A Lower-Cost Path to Enterprise Adoption

_January 22, 2026_

Enterprise adoption is often limited by a simple constraint: **interactive compute doesn’t scale economically to every business user**.

Many access patterns — whether that’s **direct query through Databricks SQL**, BI/semantic layers, or interactive experiences like **Databricks One** — can be highly effective, but they typically require **compute capacity to serve user interactions**. As organizations expand access from dozens of analysts to thousands of business users, that concurrency requirement can quickly become the dominant cost driver.

**Exponam.Connect changes the equation** by bringing governed Databricks data into **Microsoft Excel** using **Delta Sharing**, a protocol designed for secure data sharing across platforms. For many “read & analyze” workflows in Excel, **Delta Sharing enables compute-free data access** — meaning the long tail of business consumption can be served without provisioning additional interactive compute.

## What this means in practice

With Exponam.Connect, enterprises can:

- **Expand access to more users** in the tool they already use (Excel)
- **Reduce DBU/concurrency pressure** by shifting read-heavy consumption off interactive compute
- Maintain **governance and control** through shared, curated tables (Bronze/Silver/Gold)
- Realize **savings of up to ~90%** in the cost of business-user access — **even after** accounting for licensing and potential additional curation/medallioning

## The takeaway

Keep Databricks compute focused on what it’s best at — **ETL, ML, streaming, and high-performance analytics** — and enable broad business-user consumption through a **compute-light, governed sharing model**.

If you’d like, we can help you compare your current “cost per consumer” approach to a Delta Sharing + Excel model and identify which user segments and workloads are the best fit.

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