IBM has announced an expansion of its relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help more mutual clients operationalize and derive value from generative artificial intelligence (AI).
As part of this, IBM Consulting aims to deepen and expand its generative AI expertise on AWS by training 10 000 consultants by the end of 2024; the two organisations also plan to deliver joint solutions and services upgraded with generative AI capabilities designed to help clients across critical use cases.
Generative AI, in particular, holds great potential to drive transformation and boost productivity in Africa. The recent IBM report, “CEO Decision-Making in the Age of AI”, found that 69% of African CEO’s see the broad benefits of generative AI across their organization, while in the Middle East 43% of CEOs are currently leveraging generative AI for strategic decision-making.
IBM Consulting and AWS already serve clients across a variety of industries with a range of AI solutions and services. Now, the companies are enhancing those solutions and services with the power of generative AI designed to help clients integrate AI quickly into business and IT operations building on AWS. IBM Consulting and AWS plan to start with these specific solutions:
* Contact Center Modernisation with Amazon Connect – IBM Consulting worked with AWS to create summarisation and categorisation functions for voice and digital interactions using generative AI, which are designed to allow for transfers between the chatbot and live agent and provide the agent with summarized details that expedite resolution times and improve quality management.
* Platform Services on AWS – The new generative AI capabilities give clients tools to enhance business serviceability and availability for their applications hosted on AWS through intelligent issue resolution and observability techniques. Clients can expect an improvement of uptime and mean time repair which means they can act quickly and effectively to potential issues that arise.
* Supply Chain Ensemble on AWS – This planned offering will introduce a virtual assistant that can help accelerate and augment the work of supply chain professionals as they aim to deliver on customer expectations, optimise inventories, reduce costs, streamline logistics, and assess supply chain risks.
Additionally, for clients looking to modernise on AWS, IBM Consulting plans to integrate AWS generative AI services into its proprietary IBM Consulting Cloud Accelerator to help accelerate the cloud transformation process. This will help with reverse engineering, code generation and code conversion.
With today’s news, IBM Consulting plans to train and skill 10 000 consultants on AWS generative AI services by end of 2024. They will have access to an exclusive, partner-only program that provides training on the top use cases and best practices for client engagement with AWS generative AI services. This will help advance their knowledge, allow them to engage with technical professionals and better serve clients innovating on AWS.
Bill Farrell, managing partner at IBM Consulting in MEA, says: “As we expand our collaboration with AWS in the region, IBM remains committed to delivering cutting-edge generative AI solutions and expertise that will redefine how businesses operate in the region. Through joint solutions, dedicated AWS training, and the integration of IBM watsonx, we are empowering businesses in the region to harness the full potential of responsible AI, fostering innovation and driving business transformation with a human-centric approach.”