The Hybrid Data Future When To Persist, When To Let Agents Fetch

This session is primarily about data engineering & architecture within the Microsoft Fabric and SQL ecosystem. The "persist everything" era of data architecture is ending. Microsoft Fabric is the first platform that lets organizations make a genuine choice: persist strategically in OneLake, access external data via shortcuts and mirroring, or let AI agents retrieve directly from source systems at runtime - all under one security and governance model. This session explores the decision framework: when does persistence remain critical, and when can agents reason on-demand? Learn how the semantic layer - the Fabric IQ that grounds agents in trusted business data - becomes the governance backbone for agentic queries, and how leading organizations are compressing implementation timelines from months to weeks - shifting from project delivery to efficient, repeatable, scalable outcomes.