IBM Strengthens Its Alliance with AWS for Innovative AI Solutions and Training

IBM today revealed the enhancement of its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance generative artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, providing specialized training for 10,000 consultants. This partnership is geared towards empowering clients to apply generative AI effectively to crucial business scenarios.

IBM Consulting and AWS are set to advance their generative AI capabilities by equipping 10,000 consultants with targeted training, expected to be finished by the close of 2024. This initiative falls under a larger strategy to deliver generative AI solutions that facilitate a seamless integration of AI into business and IT processes on the AWS infrastructure.

"Businesses globally are eager to leverage the full capabilities of generative AI, yet they are also acutely aware of the challenges involved in its application to their operations. The landscape of generative AI is quite varied, which is why we're partnering with AWS to deliver combined solutions with generative AI features,\" explained Becky Carroll, Global AWS Strategic Partnership Leader at IBM Consulting, to Metaverse Post. \"These solutions are crafted to aid our clients in swiftly incorporating AI into their business processes utilizing AWS.\"

The collaborative solutions IBM and AWS intend to roll out encompass Contact Center Modernization with Amazon Connect, Supply Chain Ensemble on AWS, and various Platform Services on AWS. IBM mentioned to Metaverse Post that they will soon broaden their solution offerings to assist clients with additional applications.

"We've already observed significant advantages of AI in the telecommunications sector and are collaborating with clients across various fields including finance, industry, and healthcare,\" added Carroll from IBM Consulting.

IBM and AWS have maintained a long-standing relationship, primarily geared towards delivering AI solutions that drive cost savings and promote growth. According to IBM Consulting, they assist clients in establishing frameworks to address bias, ensure data security, manage provenance, and navigate the complexities of enterprise AI with an ethical approach.

"Our clients are increasingly in search of technical backing and AI expertise to formulate and execute a generative AI strategy that enhances business value across their entire cloud ecosystem,\" remarked Chris Niederman, Managing Director at AWS for Global Systems Integrators, in a statement. \"We eagerly anticipate collaborating with IBM to integrate generative AI capabilities that empower our shared clients to scale their applications, while also enabling IBM consultants to refine their expertise in the best practices for customer interactions using AWS generative AI services.\"

Generative AI Tailored for Industrial Applications

IBM Consulting and AWS have announced their integration of generative AI to enhance both voice and digital customer interactions, improving the link between chatbots and human agents. This integration equips agents with summarized information to facilitate faster resolution and enhance quality control.

"We're noticing a growing demand for generative AI within customer service centers, especially as clients seek a more fluid experience. Together with AWS, we've introduced AI-driven functionalities that enable smoother transitions between chatbots and human representatives for quicker problem resolution,\" noted Becky Carroll from IBM Consulting to Metaverse Post. \"We're also leveraging generative AI to enhance experiences for both agents and customers alike.\"

IBM said that Bouygues Telecom , a provider in the French communications sector, utilizes generative AI for call summaries through IBM Consulting's Contact Center Modernization with Amazon Connect.

Similarly, AWS's Platform Services have been enhanced with generative AI features to improve management across the entire cloud operations landscape. These improvements include smarter issue resolution and observation tactics, leading to enhanced operational uptime and swifter resolutions.

The upcoming Supply Chain Ensemble on AWS promises to launch a virtual assistant that will streamline and enhance supply chain processes, boost customer service quality, cut expenses, simplify logistics, and evaluate supply chain vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, IBM Consulting intends to incorporate AWS generative AI services into its proprietary IBM Consulting Cloud Accelerator, facilitating expedited cloud evolution, reverse engineering, code generation, and transformation.

IBM confidently asserts that it has already built significant expertise in AWS’s generative AI services, including Amazon SageMaker,. Amazon CodeWhisperer and Amazon Bedrock The goal of this partnership is to provide consultants with a specialized training curriculum focused on effective client engagement using AWS generative AI services.

WatsonX Arrives on AWS Marketplace

IBM said it will make its data store watsonx.data , being provided on AWS as a fully managed software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering. This aligns with IBM’s goals to make watsonx.ai and watsonx.governance available on AWS by 2024, simplifying client access to a suite of IBM data, AI, and security tools on the AWS platform.

"In today’s marketplace, companies require access to a complete technology stack to effectively train, optimize, and implement AI—including foundational models utilizing their own trusted data—all while ensuring speed and governance within a single environment and across various cloud resources,\" explained Carroll from IBM Consulting. \"By offering watsonx.data as a service in AWS Marketplace, we aim to meet client demands regarding hybrid cloud strategies, providing the necessary technology and expertise to leverage their AWS investments optimally and advising on the best practices to utilize generative AI capabilities through AWS.\"

She further added that specialists from IBM’s Generative AI Center of Excellence, which was launched earlier this year, will collaborate closely with the IBM-AWS partner AI ecosystem.

"Looking ahead, we are committed to integrating watsonx with AWS. We're enthusiastic about exploring our existing use cases and expanding based on client needs over time,\" Carroll remarked.