The much-anticipated Google Cloud Next ’23 started with a bang, drawing tech lovers, visionaries, and industry leaders worldwide. Not a surprise since the event was a chance for Google to showcase its advances in generative AI and bring partners together around the idea of safe and enterprise-ready gen AI solutions.
The opening keynote was (unsurprisingly) full of product revelations and engaging customer narratives. The most attention-grabbing of these? The improvements to Vertex AI and the launch of Duet AI.
But the conference was more than just a product showcase. It was a demonstration of Google Cloud’s continuous growth and ambition. The company reported an impressive $8 billion revenue in Q2 2023. This number clearly indicates their efforts to compete with industry leaders such as Microsoft Azure and AWS.
Our CEO Martin Barzauner, CTO Martin Bachler, and CCO Thomas Ziegler attended Google Next and are now back with a treasure trove of insights that we believe are vital for shaping the future of the customer experience industry.
The Power of Google Cloud: Observations by Martin Barzauner
Our CEO Martin Barzauner’s main impression was that the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is definitely at the forefront of data and AI. This leading position is thanks to their robust technical foundation backed by a streamlined and integrated approach to generative AI.
He also says that with improvements in security, auditing, and quality management, Google’s generative AI capabilities are now enterprise-grade. This development will have enormous ramifications for the entire customer experience industry. In his eyes, it will be crucial for us to help our customers find ways to capitalize on these advances.
As the business use cases of generative AI develop, the focus of these solutions will move from cost-cutting and efficiencies to more strategic organizational goals. Consequently, generative AI (and data more widely) will become the central pillars driving companies’ future development.
A New Era of AI: Insights from Thomas Ziegler
“Gen-AI is redefining the digitalization landscape,” says our CCO, Thomas Ziegler. His view is that conventional implementation will become outdated and replaced with a more relevant, prompt-based approach powered by AI solutions.
Thomas also believes that AI will become a part of daily work for everyone, including here at NETCONOMY. As we take advantage of more advanced generative AI solutions, we must ensure our people develop their knowledge in this area. This expertise will be the key driver of our innovation, both when working with customers and internally.
He was also impressed by some of the use cases he saw at Google Cloud Next. For example, consider the convenience of creating top-notch PowerPoint presentations from unstructured data like meeting notes or technical documentation simply by asking. This idea is not a pipe dream. It’s the reality now. Generative AI is set to revolutionize the way we work.
VertexAI: The Game-Changer, as per Martin Bachler
Martin Bachler, our CTO, sees the seamless integration of gen AI models and functions within VertexAI as a significant achievement. This blend creates a path for easy fine-tuning and training of Large Language Models (LLMs).
Google’s cutting-edge foundation models are now within reach. And with the model garden on VertexAI also offering open-source models, finding the ideal one for the right task has never been simpler. The release of Duet AI, an AI assistant designed to reduce manual workloads, is another testament to Google’s innovation.
Final Thoughts
From these insights, one thing is clear: AI is not just changing the rules of the game – it’s defining a whole new game for everyone. For those keen on leading in the customer experience industry, the message is unambiguous: embrace AI, and you’ll embrace the future. And we at NETCONOMY are definitely listening.
