In a move that signals the growing importance of artificial intelligence in the enterprise space, the Deloitte AWS collaboration announced today is a multi-year global investment program aimed at scaling generative AI, data, and analytics capabilities for clients worldwide. This Deloitte AWS collaboration represents a significant expansion of the existing relationship between the two industry giants and is clearly intended to help reshape the landscape of enterprise AI adoption — and provide a speedy path to results for enterprise clients.
The Deloitte AWS Partnership Includes the Development of an Innovation Lab
At the heart of this Deloitte AWS initiative is the establishment of an Innovation Lab, where engineers from both companies will collaborate to develop industry-specific solutions. This approach acknowledges the varying needs across sectors such as financial services, government, healthcare, media, consumer goods, and energy. By tailoring AI solutions to specific industries, Deloitte and AWS are addressing one of the key challenges in enterprise AI adoption: the need for contextual understanding and domain-specific applications.
One of the first proofs of concept emerging from this collaboration is Deloitte’s C Suite AI™ for CFOs. This tool, which leverages NVIDIA’s acceleration capabilities and AWS’s Amazon Bedrock service, aims to streamline financial functions through custom large language models (LLMs). The focus on areas such as planning, operations, reporting, and investor relations demonstrates a strategic, practical approach to AI implementation, targeting high-value, complex processes within organizations.
The initiative builds upon existing industry offerings, including for AI-enhanced contact centers and Deloitte’s Converge™ portfolio for banking modernization and cloud security. As some backstory, Deloitte’s Converge portfolio was announced in early 2022 as a $750 million dollar investment into new alliances, ecosystems, and software platforms designed to help accelerate industry transformation. This integration of new AI capabilities with established solutions suggests a strategy of evolving existing products rather than creating entirely new ones, which should be very good news for customers, potentially easing the adoption process for those already using these services.
What the Deloitte AWS Partnership Means for the Market
From a market perspective, the Deloitte AWS partnership could significantly impact the competitive landscape. Deloitte’s status as an AWS Partner Network (APN) Premier Tier Services Partner, combined with its recently acquired AWS Generative AI Competency status, positions the consulting giant as a formidable player in the AI services market. For AWS, this collaboration extends its reach into enterprise AI applications, leveraging Deloitte’s vast client base and industry expertise, which should speed enterprise interest, sales, and adoption.
The initiative aligns with Deloitte’s broader AI strategy, including the company’s $2 billion IndustryAdvantage™ investment and the establishment of a dedicated Generative AI practice in 2023. The company’s focus on internal AI adoption and workforce training, including the AI Academy™ program, indicates a comprehensive approach to building AI capabilities.
For the market as a whole, as an example of an industry-specific use case and why this focus by Deloitte and AWS is significant, we can look to the AWS Financial Services Symposium held in NYC in mid-June, As one of the many conversations we had at the Financial Services Symposium, our team at theCUBE sat down with Deloitte’s chief commercial officer Diego Saenz and NVIDIA’s Malcom deMayo, global vice president of financial services industry at NVIDIA for a conversation about utilizing generative AI to improve decision-making capabilities of CFOs in the C-suite to help CFOs get the answers they need more quickly. When it comes to the challenge of securing budget for AI initiatives, to my way of thinking, there’s likely no more expeditious route than delivering results for CFOs — smart move, Deloitte.
Check out that interview here:
The Challenges Deloitte and AWS Face Ahead
While there is obviously opportunity here, for Deloitte and AWS, as well as their customers and partners, the success of this initiative will likely depend on several factors. First and most obvious, the companies’ ability to deliver tangible business value — and quickly — leveraging these AI solutions will be crucial. While the potential of generative AI is widely recognized, demonstrating clear ROI in enterprise settings remains a challenge across the board. Thus my earlier point about the strategic focus on delivering value (and ROI) at the CFO level and how valuable that is.
Beyond delivering on the ROI equation, addressing concerns around AI ethics, security, and governance will be critical. Deloitte’s emphasis on its Trustworthy AI™ framework suggests an awareness of these issues, but implementation in diverse enterprise environments may prove complex.
Third, I gave a nod to speed above, but it bears repeating: the speed of innovation in the AI field could very well pose challenges. As new AI models and techniques emerge rapidly, Deloitte and AWS will need to ensure their solutions remain cutting-edge and adaptable.
Knowing what I do about both of these vendors, I feel relatively confident of their ability to move quickly, adapt as the realm of AI-powered solutions continues to rapidly evolve, and to effectively compete in what is becoming a very crowded space. The brand recognition and vast capabilities of these industry leaders will serve them well as the race to serve up best-in-class solutions that can deliver tangible bottom line benefits continues to heat up.
Collaboration Between Tech Vendors and Service Providers is Key
From a broader industry perspective, this partnership exemplifies a trend that we’ve been seeing for some time now: closer collaboration between technology providers and professional services firms is often the quickest path to realizing value. And in the AI space, this makes even more sense. Reinventing the wheel, approaching AI with a “we must build it ourselves” mindset is not, in many instances, the best strategy. Conversely, working with trusted vendor partners who are already immersed in the space, often leading the pack, and delivering for other customers is often the smart move, whether we’re talking AI or anything else. This Deloitte AWS alliance is attractive as it also highlights the growing importance of industry-specific AI solutions, as opposed to generic, one-size-fits-all approaches, which these vendors are already diving deeply into, is exactly what customers seek.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Deloitte AWS collaboration represents a significant move in the enterprise AI market. By combining Deloitte’s industry expertise and client relationships with AWS’s technical capabilities and the significant inroads AWS has made delivering for customers on the AI front, this initiative has the potential to accelerate AI adoption across various sectors. However, the ultimate impact will depend on the partners’ ability to deliver practical, value-driving solutions while navigating the complex landscape of enterprise AI implementation.
As the initiative unfolds, it will be crucial to watch how it influences AI adoption patterns and shapes the competitive dynamics in the enterprise technology market. I’m thinking the Deloitte AWS collaboration bodes very well, for both companies, as well as for their enterprise customer base. Based on the customer conversations I’m hearing today at the AWS Analyst Forum in NYC as they’re sharing some of their early successes with AI and gen AI adoption, there is every reason to believe we’ll quickly see value from this Deloitte AWS collaboration as well. I look forward to hearing those customer ROI success stories in a few months’ time.
Image credit: Pexels, Tabitha Mort
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