“We are committed to making GenAI accessible to SMBs in India”

Over the past year, Generative AI (GenAI) has not just piqued the interest of businesses, it has also sparked a revolution, transitioning from pilot experimentation to a realm of large-scale impact. The growth in enterprise GenAI adoption, experimentation, and large-scale pilots has been phenomenal. This surge has instilled a growing belief that GenAI has the potential not just to augment but even replace human efforts in complex and unstructured areas of value creation. On the sidelines of the recent AWS Summit 2024 in Bengaluru, Praveen Sridhar, the head of Partner Business, Amazon Web Services (AWS) India and South Asia, shared his insights with Prabhu Ram, the head of the Industry Intelligence Group at CyberMedia Research. Excerpts from their intriguing conversation:

Paving the Way for the Adoption of GenAI

With its expertise in cloud computing, AWS is not just a facilitator but a true enabler, empowering businesses of all sizes to harness GenAI’s full potential. The company recognises the importance of a comprehensive stack, offering a complete set of tools to  facilitate success.

Infrastructure: Efficiently running GenAI models requires significant computing power. AWS’s custom-designed chips, Trainium and Inferentia, further optimise performance for GenAI workloads. Additionally, tools like SageMaker provide a comprehensive platform for training, building, and deploying GenAI models.

Model marketplace: AWS offers pre-trained large language models or LLMs through Bedrock. AWS announced the general availability of Amazon Bedrock in the Asia-Pacific region (specifically Mumbai). Launched in 2023, Bedrock offers diverse foundation models from leading companies like Anthropic, Meta, Cohere, as well as AWS. This empowers customers to build secure applications leveraging these models, ultimately enhancing user experiences, boosting productivity, and streamlining operations. Bedrock also provides customisation features like Guardrails and Knowledge Bases, enabling users to tailor the models for specific applications.

"AWS Marketplace allows Independent Software Vendors in India to list their GenAI solutions, allowing them to reach a global audience."

Applications: At the top layer, AWS goes beyond just the infrastructure and tools. They integrate GenAI capabilities into various AWS services, making it easier for users to leverage this technology. For instance, Amazon QuickSight provides user-friendly interfaces powered by GenAI for data visualisation tasks. Additionally, AWS is exploring consumer products like Rufus that could utilise GenAI functionalities.

Partner Ecosystem: The Force Multiplier

Partners play a critical role in accelerating GenAI adoption. AWS fosters a comprehensive partner ecosystem with different competency levels, including a specific GenAI competency. This ensures partners have the expertise to build and deliver effective GenAI solutions. Additionally, AWS supports partners through training programmes and marketplaces. These programmes equip partners with the necessary skills, while the marketplaces allow them to showcase their GenAI solutions and reach a wider audience.

GenAI in Action: Real-World Examples

The impact of GenAI is already being felt across India. Companies of all sizes are leveraging AWS to create innovative solutions. Shellkode, for example, uses GenAI to automate tasks and streamline invoice processing. HCL Technologies employs it to enhance  developer productivity.

Even the sports industry is getting a makeover with Tech Mahindra’s use of GenAI to create immersive fan experiences. Similarly, Mindtickle, a data dumping platform, empowers sales organisations with GenAI tools, while Freshworks, an Indian software company, utilises GenAI to improve customer journeys.

Empowering Small and Medium Businesses

AWS is committed to making GenAI accessible to small and medium businesses in India. They offer specific programmes like AWS Activate, which provides resources and support for experimentation and adoption. Additionally, the AWS Marketplace allows Indian Independent Software Vendors to list their GenAI solutions, allowing them to reach a global audience.

The future of GenAI in India looks bright. AWS contributes to this growth by providing the infrastructure, tools, and support needed for established players and emerging SMBs. This collaborative effort has the potential to unlock a new wave of innovation and productivity across various sectors in India. 

Praveen Sridhar

Head, Partner Business, Amazon Web

Services (AWS) India and South Asia

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