IBM has announced an expansion of its relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help more mutual clients operationalise 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.

The recent Gitex Global 2023 in Dubai underscored Middle East’s commitment to technology and innovation. Generative AI, in particular, holds great potential to drive transformation and boost productivity in the Middle East.

The recent IBM report, "CEO Decision-Making in the Age of AI", found that 43% of CEOs in the Middle East 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, optimize inventories, reduce costs, streamline logistics, and assess supply chain risks.

Additionally, for clients looking to modernize 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.

Expanding AWS on watsonx integration

IBM has already built extensive expertise with AWS’s generative AI services including Amazon SageMaker and Amazon CodeWhisperer, and is one of first AWS Partners to use Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that makes industry-leading foundation models (FMs) available through an API, so clients can choose the model that's best suited for their use case.

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 said: "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."

IBM is also responding to client demand for generative AI capabilities on AWS by making watsonx.data, a fit-for-purpose data store built on an open lakehouse architecture, available on AWS as a fully managed software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution – which clients can also access in AWS Marketplace.

The company also plans to make watsonx.ai and watsonx.governance available on AWS by 2024. This builds on previous commitments made by the two companies to make it easier for clients to consume IBM data, AI and security software on AWS.

Yasser Hassan, Head of AWS in Middle East, North Africa and Turkey said: "Our strengthened partnership with IBM signifies a milestone in bringing advanced AI capabilities to businesses across the Middle East. By collaborating with IBM, we are not only enhancing our offerings but also empowering clients with dedicated expertise.

“The upgraded joint solutions, including Contact Center Modernization and Platform Services on AWS, showcase our joint commitment to delivering value and innovation. AWS is proud to be at the forefront of shaping the future of AI in the Middle East, providing businesses with the tools they need to thrive in the digital age.” – TradeArabia News Service