GenAI and partnerships in the spotlight at AWS re:Invent 2024

If you thought the energy at AWS re:Invent 2024 was electric, you weren’t alone. The atmosphere at the annual flagship conference of Amazon Web Services (AWS), held in Las Vegas, was nothing short of exhilarating.

I’ve attended every re:Invent event so far, and the latest one marked a return to pre-pandemic levels of excitement and engagement. The halls were buzzing with enthusiastic attendees, and the air was thick with the promise of new technologies and partnerships.

Introducing Amazon Nova

From the moment the doors opened, it was clear that AWS re:Invent 2024 would be a game changer. The introduction of Amazon Nova, a groundbreaking suite of foundational GenAI models, set the tone for a conference brimming with innovation and collaboration.

Nova represents a significant leap forward in GenAI capabilities, offering a robust and versatile platform for developers and organizations alike. These models — which deliver “frontier intelligence and industry-leading price performance”, according to AWS — are built to handle a range of tasks, from natural language processing to image generation and beyond.

In this way, AWS is democratizing access to GenAI, making it easier for organizations of all sizes to introduce GenAI into their operations.

We’re already working to integrate Nova into NTT DATA’s solutions — alongside existing AWS services like the machine-learning and analytics platform Amazon SageMaker — to give our clients access to the latest GenAI technology.

With nearly two-thirds of organizations globally planning to invest significantly in GenAI in the next two years and 83% having already established robust or expert GenAI teams, according to NTT DATA’s Global GenAI Report, this is a welcome development.

AWS’s “year of the partner”

But the excitement didn’t stop there. It’s clear that AWS sees 2025 as the “year of the partner”, signaling a major push to strengthen their partner ecosystem. They are committed to supporting more workloads and expanding their range of tailored solutions and services, making it a win-win for their partners and customers.

AWS and NTT DATA already collaborate closely to help our clients address governance and operational efficiency challenges, optimize spending, minimize risk and support sustainability initiatives in multicloud environments. We were named the AWS 2024 Consulting Partner of the Year in sub-Saharan Africa, and we’re a launch partner for AWS Security Incident Response and AWS Digital Sovereignty Competency.

AWS’s new focus on partnerships is a strategic move that underscores their commitment to collaboration and their recognition that the success of their cloud services is closely tied to the strength of these partnerships.

By improving the support and resources they give to their partners, they’re fostering a more robust and innovative ecosystem, which ultimately benefits our clients by giving them a wider range of options and support.

This leads to the kind of success we’ve had in digitally transforming the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race. At AWS re:Invent, my colleague Michael Mossal, our Senior Digital Transformation Director, presented on how our AWS partnership helped us to modernize the race experience, from the edge to the fans, and to make it safer for both racers and attendees.

• ALSO READ → Amazon Web Services and NTT DATA deliver multicloud success

GROW with SAP — now on AWS

Another highlight was the launch of GROW with SAP on AWS.

The GROW program brings together solutions, services, learning and more to help organizations adopt cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. These organizations will now have a more seamless and efficient experience when they run SAP workloads on AWS.

The integration, which offers improved performance and reliability, will also simplify the management and scaling of SAP environments.

NTT DATA’s managed services will, of course, play a crucial role in providing the expertise our SAP clients need to support this initiative.

We work closely with SAP to make cloud modernization easy and efficient. As an SAP Global Strategic Service Partner, we complement ERP offerings like RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP with our full-stack expertise spanning multicloud management, application modernization, digital transformation and more.

Welcome to the future

As AWS re:Invent 2024 wrapped up, it was evident that the event was more than just a conference — it was a catalyst for the future of cloud and AI.

As these trends evolve, they will shape the way we approach technology and innovation for years to come.