Techaisle Blog

Rodney Clark, SVP of Partnerships and Small & Medium Business, Cisco, and Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, SVP of Cisco Partner Program, Cisco are on a mission. At the recently concluded Cisco Partner Summit 2024, Cisco unveiled its new partner program, the Cisco 360 Partner Program, which aims to redefine how partner value is recognized and rewarded. This program fosters shared success, enhances partner profitability, and simplifies the partner experience. Cisco is streamlining its partner structure by transitioning from four roles (Integrator, Provider, Advisor, and Developer) to two main tiers: Cisco Partner and Cisco Preferred Partner. This change is not due to a lack of recognition of partners' diverse roles or a disregard for the ecosystem. On the contrary, Cisco is enhancing its focus on the ecosystem, acknowledging that partners can fulfill multiple roles. This simplified structure allows partners to achieve the Preferred Partner status through a value index that recognizes metrics spanning various business models.

Cisco currently boasts a best-in-industry partner program, recognized for its strong market presence, trust, and reliability. However, the program's complexity and operational challenges are hindering its effectiveness. The multifaceted benefits, while encouraging partner adoption, can take time to manage and track. As Cisco looks to evolve its partner program, it focuses on simplifying the process and shifting towards outcome-based metrics. By focusing on profitability and operational efficiency, Cisco aims to ease the transition for partners and ensure a smooth evolution of the program.

Generative AI is revolutionizing how businesses operate, offering unprecedented opportunities for innovation and efficiency. As per Techaisle’s research of 2400 businesses, 94% are expected to use GenAI within the next 12 months. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is at the forefront of this transformation, guiding business leaders through the adoption and implementation of generative AI technologies. AWS emphasizes the importance of understanding the potential of generative AI and identifying relevant use cases that can drive significant business value. By leveraging tools such as Amazon Bedrock, AWS Trainium, and AWS Inferentia, businesses can build and scale generative AI applications tailored to their specific needs. These tools provide the necessary infrastructure and performance to handle large-scale AI workloads, ensuring businesses can achieve their goals effectively. Moreover, AWS highlights the critical role of high-quality data in the success of generative AI projects. A robust data strategy, encompassing data versioning, lineage, and governance, is essential for maintaining data quality and consistency, enhancing model performance and accuracy. Additionally, AWS advocates responsible AI development, emphasizing the need for ethical considerations and risk management. Businesses can establish clear guidelines and safeguards to ensure their AI initiatives are innovative and responsible. Real-world success stories, such as those of Adidas and Merck, demonstrate the tangible benefits of generative AI, from personalized customer experiences to improved manufacturing processes. As businesses continue to explore and implement generative AI, they must prioritize adaptability, continuous learning, and a commitment to ethical practices to fully harness this technology's transformative power. AWS is taking a pivotal role in guiding businesses through the adoption and implementation of generative AI by encouraging business leaders to consider the possibilities if limitations were removed.

AWS’ Roadmap for Generative AI Success

Despite widespread GenAI adoption plans, Techaisle found that 50% of businesses struggle to define an AI-first strategy. Most businesses, from small to large corporations, struggle to define specific GenAI implementation strategies. This is particularly evident among small businesses (81%), midmarket firms (45%), and enterprises (41%). As Tom Godden, AWS Enterprise Strategist, said, “The question on every CEO’s mind is ‘What is our generative AI strategy?” To facilitate this journey, AWS outlines a clear roadmap encompassing several key stages: Learn, Build, Establish, Lead, and Act.

In the Learn phase, AWS recommends understanding the possibilities of generative AI and identifying relevant use cases. They offer resources like the AI Use Case Explorer, which provides practical guidance and real-world examples of successful implementations. Moving to the Build stage, AWS stresses the importance of effectively choosing the right tools and scaling. They provide a range of infrastructure and tools, including Amazon Bedrock, AWS Trainium and AWS Inferentia, Amazon EC2 UltraClusters, and SageMaker. These tools help businesses balance accuracy, performance, and cost while developing and scaling generative AI applications.

The Establish phase centers around data, a crucial component for successful generative AI implementation. AWS highlights the need for a robust data strategy that includes data versioning, documentation, lineage, cleaning, collection, annotation, and ontology. This ensures data quality and consistency, which is essential for optimal model training. In the Lead stage, AWS emphasizes the importance of humanizing work and using generative AI to empower employees rather than replace them. They recommend redesigning workflows to leverage AI effectively, adopting successful AI governance models, and preparing the workforce for new roles through upskilling and reskilling.

Finally, the Act phase focuses on building and implementing a responsible AI program to ensure generative AI's ethical and safe use. AWS advises proactively addressing potential risks and challenges, establishing clear risk assessment frameworks, and implementing controls and safeguards to prevent misuse. They also emphasize the importance of providing training and resources to ensure security and compliance teams are confident in the organization's AI practices.

AWS provides a comprehensive approach to guiding businesses through the adoption and implementation of generative AI. AWS helps leaders navigate this transformative technology and unlock its immense potential by offering a clear framework, practical tools, and real-world examples.

Amazon Bedrock: A Comprehensive Platform for Generative AI

Building upon this foundation, Amazon Bedrock emerges as a pivotal tool for businesses seeking to harness the transformative power of generative AI. By providing a curated selection of foundation models and simplifying their implementation, Bedrock empowers organizations to experiment, iterate, and scale their AI initiatives rapidly.

On 24^th September 2024, Google Cloud unveiled several significant updates to its AI offerings. These updates include enhancements to the Gemini model, including the general availability of a two million token context window for Gemini 1.5 Pro, improvements in provisioned throughput, advancements in grounding capabilities, and the general availability of the Imagen 3 text-to-image generation model. These new product announcements from Google Cloud highlight its commitment to advancing AI technologies and providing businesses with the tools they need to drive innovation and growth. With these new features, Google Cloud further solidifies its position as a leader in AI development.

Google also discussed the evolution of its agents, highlighting how they have become increasingly sophisticated and capable over time. As AI technology has advanced, Google's agents have evolved from simple chatbots to intelligent assistants that can perform complex tasks and provide valuable insights. Cloud agents are intelligent software applications that can perform tasks autonomously or in collaboration with humans. They leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate processes, analyze data, and provide insights. Google Cloud has released a variety of agents, including customer agents, employee agents, data agents, security agents, and creative agents. These agents offer numerous benefits, such as increased efficiency, improved decision-making, enhanced customer satisfaction, and reduced operational costs. Google Cloud agents differentiate themselves by integrating with Google's AI platform, Vertex AI, which simplifies development and deployment. Additionally, Google Cloud's agents are designed to be scalable, reliable, and secure, ensuring that businesses can leverage AI to meet their evolving needs.

Gemini Updates and Expanded Capabilities

Updates to the Gemini Model: One of the event's key highlights was the announcement of updates to the Gemini model. The Gemini model, known for its powerful generative AI capabilities, has been further enhanced to provide even more robust performance. The updates to the Gemini Model, specifically the introduction of the Gemini 002 version, bring several advantages for customers. The new version is available in both Flash and Pro versions. The Flash version is designed for speed and versatility, making it suitable for a wide range of applications. On the other hand, the Pro version offers incremental reasoning capabilities, which can be particularly beneficial for more complex tasks that require deeper analysis and understanding. The context window for Gemini 1.5 Pro has also been expanded to 2 million tokens. This significant increase allows for analyzing larger amounts of data in a single prompt, such as two hours of video or 1500 pages of text. This capability enables customers to process and analyze extensive datasets more efficiently, leading to more comprehensive insights and better decision-making.

Xerox, synonymous with photocopying, has embarked on a bold transformation to remain relevant in the digital age. From its humble beginnings as a copier manufacturer to its status as a diversified technology services company, Xerox's journey is a testament to its resilience and adaptability. Groundbreaking innovations punctuate Xerox's history. The introduction of the plain paper copier in the 1950s revolutionized document reproduction, and the company's subsequent development of the graphical user interface (GUI) and computer mouse laid the foundation for modern computing. The laser printer, another Xerox invention, further cemented its position as a technology pioneer. However, the rise of digital technology and the decline of traditional printing posed significant challenges to the company.  Xerox began a strategic shift towards IT Services with the 2010 acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), rebranded as “Conduent” and spun off as a separate business services division in 2016.  The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote work and digital document management.  While Xerox saw a decline in traditional office printing, it also identified new opportunities in emerging segments, demonstrating its agility and forward-thinking approach, which should give us all optimism about its future. 

It was my great pleasure to speak with John G. Bruno, Xerox's President and Chief Operating Officer. The conversation covered a broad array of subjects, focusing on Xerox's strategy for Reinvention. 

The traditional office environment has undergone a seismic shift with the rise of remote and hybrid work models. Once synonymous with physical document management, Xerox is adapting to this new reality by strategically balancing the preservation of its core print business with a bold venture into Digital Services and IT Services. While print remains a critical component of Xerox's operations, the company recognizes the growing demand for digital tools. It is investing heavily in technologies that can extract value from documents in a digital format. 

Xerox's foray into digital services is driven by the understanding that information is increasingly digitized. The company is developing services to capture, process, and analyze content from various sources, including physical documents. By doing so, Xerox aims to position itself as a trusted partner for businesses seeking to optimize their document workflows and extract valuable insights from their data. 

Furthermore, Xerox is expanding its service offerings to include IT services, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. By providing a comprehensive suite of IT services, including managed security and cloud solutions, Xerox is addressing the growing technology needs of this market segment. This strategic move diversifies the company's revenue streams and strengthens client relationships. In essence, Xerox is evolving from a hardware-centric company to a technology-driven organization that empowers businesses to navigate the digital landscape. 

The company's Reinvention strategy is threefold. This three-pronged approach demonstrates Xerox's commitment to preserving its core print business, simplifying its operations to improve the client and employee experience, and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by the digital revolution. 

1. Strengthening the Core Print Business:

Xerox aims to maintain its leadership in the print industry by focusing on efficiency and productivity, reducing costs, and capturing growing segments like home office printing and production print. Despite the rise of digital platforms, print remains a significant market, and Xerox is determined to solidify its position as a leader in this space. As remote work and hybrid work models become the norm, the demand for home printers is expected to rise. Xerox is positioning itself to capitalize on this trend by offering high-quality, user-friendly printers to address the evolving needs of hybrid workers.   On the other end of the spectrum, Xerox also focuses on production print. This segment caters to businesses with high-volume printing needs, such as publishing houses, advertising agencies, and direct mail companies. Xerox aims to increase its market share in this lucrative sector by investing in advanced printing technologies and workflow solutions. 

2. Driving Efficiency and Growth through Global Business Services:

A key component of the Xerox Reinvention is the formation of a new Global Business Services organization. By centralizing internal processes and leveraging shared capabilities, Xerox aims to simplify operations, reduce costs, and improve the overall client and employee experience. This, in turn, frees up resources for investment in growth areas, such as emerging technologies and digital services. As Xerox continues to evolve, the Global Business Services organization will play a pivotal role in ensuring the company's long-term success. 

3. Expanding into Digital Services and IT Services:

Recognizing the digital transformation, Xerox is investing heavily in digital services, including intelligent document processing, content management, and data capture. The company also sees significant potential in IT services, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. Recognizing the inevitable shift towards digitalization, Xerox is increasingly investing in digital services. At the heart of this strategy is intelligent document processing, which involves extracting valuable information from physical and digital documents. This technology is crucial for businesses looking to automate workflows, improve efficiency, and gain insights from their data. In addition to document processing, Xerox is focusing on customer engagement services, whereby Xerox helps companies utilize proprietary content to more effectively target and communicate with their customers, even designing and implementing omnichannel marketing campaigns. Xerox entered the IT services market to expand its digital footprint, particularly targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). By offering a range of IT services, including managed security, cloud solutions, and technical support, Xerox aims to become a one-stop shop for SMBs' technology needs.