While attending the AWS Summit in New York City a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with two key figures driving the AWS-Deloitte partnership: Brian Bohan, Director of AWS Global Consulting Partner CoE, and JB McGinnis, Deloitte’s AWS Alliance Partner. Our conversation centered on how this powerful alliance is accelerating AI innovation across industries in a strategic fashion.
The Powerful Alliance Between AWS-Deloitte is Strategically Accelerating AI Innovation Across Industries – watch the full video conversation here:
What Sets the AWS-Deloitte Partnership Apart
The excitement surrounding generative AI (GenAI) was palpable throughout the event. Both Bohan and McGinnis emphasized the growing enthusiasm from customers, particularly at the C-suite and line-of-business levels. This shift mirrors the early days of digital transformation, with executives recognizing the transformative potential of GenAI and actively seeking ways to implement it within their organizations.
What sets the AWS-Deloitte partnership apart is its unique combination of AWS’s robust tech stack and partner programs with Deloitte’s deep industry expertise. This alliance is making waves across various sectors, including public sector, life sciences, healthcare, financial services, and media and entertainment.
Bohan highlighted three key aspects that make this partnership stand out:
Trust. Partnerships that are designed to be seamless and make things easy for customers are key. Deloitte and AWS have a strong foundation of mutual trust and there is much similarity between the cultures of the organizations, which allows seamless collaboration for and with clients.
Industry-specific offerings. The focused, differentiated offerings are significant in this partnership, tailored to specific industries and buyer personas. These industry-specific, persona-specific offerings are designed to not only speed and scale enterprise adoption, but also deliver bottom-line ROI, which is something organizations are laser-focused on as it relates to their enterprise AI efforts.
Agility and Speed of Innovation. Bohan called out Deloitte’s agility and creativity in rapidly developing and deploying new solutions. This speed of innovation not only serves AWS-Deloitte well, but it’s also exactly what customers are looking for.
One notable example is Deloitte’s CFO Insights solution, which impressed me with its potential to revolutionize financial operations. The ability to quickly conceptualize and bring to market industry-specific solutions, such as an end-to-end patient services transformation powered by AI for healthcare providers, demonstrates the partnership’s agility and market responsiveness.
AWS-Deloitte Both Making Significant Investments in GenAI Capabilities
Investments in GenAI capabilities are substantial on both sides. Deloitte has launched its Gen AI Studio, featuring a library of industry use cases, and established an AI Academy to enhance its practitioners’ skills and train the next generation of AI talent. AWS, for its part, is making significant investments to drive market adoption of production-ready Gen AI workloads through Deloitte.
The AWS Generative AI Competency program plays a crucial role in differentiating partners like Deloitte. This program maintains a high bar, requiring partners to demonstrate not just technical proficiency but also proven success with production workloads at client sites. This fosters a deeper level of collaboration and ensures partners are well-equipped to guide clients through their AI journeys.
A critical aspect of Gen AI implementation is the establishment of proper guardrails and governance frameworks. The combination of AWS’s built-in guardrails and the AWS Audit Manager Framework provides a robust solution for clients evaluating Gen AI proof of concepts and auditing solutions. This approach addresses concerns around content filtering, PII protection, and industry-specific regulatory compliance.
Advice for Your Enterprise AI Journey: Start Now, Start Smart
My key takeaway for C-suite executives contemplating their GenAI journey is simple: start now — but start smart. Both Bohan and McGinnis emphasized the importance of identifying high-value use cases that align with business objectives. They advised a two-pronged approach: tackle a few challenging, transformative problems while also pursuing some “low-hanging fruit” to build momentum and learning. This should be a relatively easy lift for C-suite execs, as this is the same mindset and strategy used when beginning digital transformation journeys over the course of the last decade or so. Identifying high-value use cases, delivering on a POC that can help others see the possibilities and get excited about what’s ahead, and then executing in a repeatable, scalable way.
Perhaps most importantly, the conversation underscored the value of working with trusted vendor partners in the GenAI space. The combined expertise of AWS-Deloitte offers clients a shortcut to value, leveraging lessons learned across multiple implementations to accelerate adoption and minimize risks.
In conclusion, the AWS-Deloitte partnership represents a formidable force in the GenAI landscape. Their collaborative approach, industry-specific solutions, and commitment to responsible AI implementation position them as key players in driving the next wave of AI-powered business transformation. As organizations navigate the complexities of GenAI adoption, partnerships like this will undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping the future of enterprise AI.
See more of my related coverage here:
AWS Summit New York: AWS Bolsters Its Generative AI Stack
Deloitte AWS Collaboration Designed to Accelerate and Scale Enterprise AI Adoption
