Forging the Path Ahead: Insights from The AWS London Summit
This week’s London AWS summit was a feast of AI, cloud tech, Gen AI, innovation, and evidence of the power of partnerships. When tech giants collaborate, they create and innovate, and benefiting us all.
The London AWS summit was an extraordinary blend of talks, demos, special guests, hands-on experiences, and tech to geek out on.
But what caught my eye? The short answer is lots and lots of different things. But let me pick some of my highlights from this tech extravaganza.
The Two Pillars of Success: Partnerships & Open Ecosystems
The summit fired home two key messages: innovation thrives on the power of partnerships, and an open ecosystem lays the foundation for new possibilities in enterprise-level AI strategy. Collaboration between industry leaders, such as IBM and AWS, is one such shining example. I am surprised at how far Big Blue has come from its old days of trying to do everything itself to focusing on partnerships and open ecosystems that benefit the customers.
IBM’s commitment to their AWS partnership is to make generative artificial intelligence more accessible to everyone. For example, by the end of 2024, IBM will have trained 10,000 skilled consultants to deepen and expand its generative AI expertise in AWS cloud computing.
In addition, IBM and AWS also plan to deliver a comprehensive range of consulting, technical, risk, trained and certified staff, cloud options, software assets, and best practices in the generative AI space. Furthermore, these two have also launched an innovation lab to help more mutual clients operationalise and derive value from the latest technologies. After all, the world’s biggest opportunities demand that the world’s largest companies work together.
A complete client offering is key if businesses are to win in the Age of AI. Why? I believe harnessing AI’s power is the only way forward for businesses, but implementation costs, a lack of expertise or infrastructure, or trust issues often hinder AI’s progress. Collaboration and solid partnerships can overcome these problems. Therefore, it is easier to bring in expert help when needed rather than trying to handle everything internally.
AWS and IBM’s collaboration also features a generative AI stack, incorporating Amazon Bedrock and watsonx, which enables enterprises to scale AI workloads rapidly and securely on AWS Cloud and across hybrid cloud environments. Combine that stack with IBM’s deep consulting expertise, and businesses of any size can now access to the expert help they need to develop innovative AI solutions securely and responsibly in HR, customer support, and application modernization. Result!
Governance and Ethics in the Generative AI Journey
Generative AI’s potential hinges on overcoming governance and ethics challenges. Without a solid foundation in these areas, enterprises will have a tough time managing and monitoring their AI activities.
Mark Cox, a leading voice in the field, emphasised this during his keynote address. He spoke in detail about IBM’s enterprise-grade software AI range which included watsonx.ai, watsonx.data, and watsonx.governance. Although, all three significantly add operational value to businesses in their own ways, the last offering caught my attention.
The watsonx.governance platform, scheduled to be launched soon, provides a comprehensive solution for governance and oversight of AI models. With watsonx.governance, organizations can govern GenAI and ML models from a wide range of vendors, including watsonx.ai, Amazon SageMaker, Bedrock, Google Vertex, and Microsoft Azure.
This versatile solution promises to enable businesses to evaluate and monitor model health, accuracy, drift, bias, and GenAI quality. This will help ensure that AI systems are deployed responsibly and ethically, which can only be a good thing.
Mitigating Risk: Choosing the Right Vendor or Vendors?
The collaboration between IBM and AWS is also particularly noteworthy, as it underscores the paramount importance of implementing a robust risk management strategy when adopting technological solutions. Their approach resonates with my advocacy for a multi-portfolio vendor approach to technology offerings to better mitigate client risk whilst widening the range of solutions clients need to scale their businesses.
Interesting, a Fortune 500 company recently sought my advice regarding one of their leads – a prominent automotive manufacturer. My client had identified a potential vulnerability in the lead’s cloud strategy, which relied solely on a single vendor to fulfil their cloud requirements.
However, my client’s motive extended beyond merely securing a new contract. Instead, they aimed to advise and offer a tailored cloud solution that addressed the automotive manufacturer’s specific needs for security, performance, and cost-effectiveness.
This exemplified a broader principle: embracing a multi-vendor approach not only mitigates risks associated with limited-service options and vendor dependence but also fortifies the client relationship. Why? The client knows that they are getting the best ecosystem of solutions NOT one vendors sole solution. That the true power of partnerships!
Generative AI: Transforming Industries With the Right LLM
Chris Hay‘s spoke at the Amazon event and emphasised the importance of choosing the right LLM for a specific use case or business needs. He remarked, while enormous models trained on up to billions of data points are available, we don’t necessarily require an ‘Einstein-level’ model to teach a child basic math skills. It stuck to me because the key lies in judiciously selecting an LLM that aligns with and serves your particular requirements, rather than indiscriminately opting for the largest or most complex model available.
IBM’s watsonx.ai AI studio promises exactly that. It brings together traditional machine learning and new generative AI capabilities that gives their customers the power to configure their AI models as per their unique business needs.
LLMs have certainly enhanced the business landscape, but IBM’s effort towards creating an enterprise-ready studio for AI builders and building relationships with global enterprises that rely on their consulting for their AI transformation journeys is truly revolutionising the way enterprises operate.
Beyond the Talks: Networking and Knowledge Sharing
One thing was evident during the summit: the power of human connections and strategic partnerships intertwine with the roots of innovation. Networking with fellow attendees and renowned industry experts proved to be an invaluable experience, one that will undoubtedly shape the future of our industry.
The AWS event offers a lot. I had the privilege of engaging with visionary leaders, each offering unique perspectives and insights. From the thought-provoking conversations with Mark Cox‘s and Mark Fitch on the intricacies of responsible AI adoption to listening to Francessca Vasquez on the transformative potential of generative AI, every interaction reinforced the importance of collaboration.
There are greater defining and pivotal moments in AI ahead buy isn’t this the most exciting time to be in business knowing that immense power is now available at our fingertips?
#AWSSummit #London #CloudComputing #FutureOfWork #PaidPartnership #IBMPartner #AILiteracy #watsonX IBM
Check out my previous blog at – Artificial Intelligence Using AI to Improve Productivity, Efficiency, and Accuracy – Kieran Gilmurray
Comment (1)
[…] Check my previous blog at – Forging the Path Ahead: Insights from The AWS London Summit – Kieran Gilmurray […]