The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into business operations is no longer a futuristic concept; it's a present-day necessity. CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang introduced a new concept into the rapidly evolving AI landscape during his keynote at the GTC Conference in March this year. He discussed the rise of "AI factories" and "AI foundries," terms traditionally associated with product development and raw material processing.
By extending these industrial concepts to AI, Huang proposed a novel approach to innovation – one that could revolutionize software development, resource management, and overall business operations. Companies already integrating or planning to integrate AI into their workflows should closely consider this approach for enhancing business value. By leveraging AI, businesses can boost productivity, optimize operations and drive significant value, paving the way for a new era of innovation and growth.
Chief Product Officer at Hitachi Vantara.
Preparing your business for GenAI integration
GenAI is rapidly becoming a key productivity tool for many organizations. EY’s analysis suggests that GenAI systems are expected to permeate wide segments of business operations in the coming years, with significant implications for various activities such as customer support, marketing and sales, business operations and software programming. GenAI is already making significant strides in customer service, where its ability to mimic human interactions allows businesses to provide rapid, personalized support and engage with customers in real time. Additionally, companies are beginning to integrate AI and machine learning (ML) into their software, harnessing GenAI's potential to improve decision-making through a deep understanding of customer needs and use cases, rather than relying on simplistic problem-solving methods.
For businesses looking to expand their use of AI and ML-enhanced software, having the right IT infrastructure is essential. This infrastructure must be robust and flexible enough to support the growing demands of GenAI and the improvements it offers. In today's highly digital world, upgrading and modernizing IT infrastructure is more important than ever, and can be supported with the right partners.
Partnering for winning AI initiatives
Implementing AI and GenAI in your business is no small feat. To effectively leverage these technologies, companies need essential hardware and software components, necessitating tightly integrated processes throughout the product lifecycle and overall business operations.
Another important consideration is ensuring that both the enterprise and its partners adhere to governance and compliance standards. This includes enforcing best practices that align with the company’s AI deployment model, covering areas such as material selection, manufacturing processes, software design and solution delivery. This is especially crucial for GenAI, which requires significant compute and storage resources and, if not managed correctly, can lead to high compute costs, increased energy consumption and a larger carbon footprint.
A critical aspect of deploying GenAI applications is the substantial power they require. AI foundries and factories that support these applications demand extensive compute, storage and network resources to manage large datasets and maintain these models. Organizations must also choose optimized methods for delivering services efficiently while keeping sustainability top of mind.
Navigating the GenAI landscape
When approaching AI as a workload or a suite of workloads, it's important to realize that GenAI brings different demands compared to traditional IT scenarios. To succeed in the GenAI space, businesses must adapt their infrastructure strategies to accommodate these new workloads, which can be a difficult process.
A significant amount of this infrastructure must reside in the cloud, but on-premises systems will also play an important role. Businesses must therefore carefully select and build the right systems for both cloud and on-premises environments. This can be facilitated by partnering with experts in deploying and managing mission-critical infrastructure. These partnerships are essential for achieving the best outcomes from GenAI initiatives, both today and looking to the future.
It's important to remember that optimizing GenAI is a gradual process, not something that can be achieved overnight. To succeed, businesses should focus on streamlined infrastructure and automation solutions and collaborate with partners who can support them throughout the entire process. This includes data preparation, consolidation, and AI model training and inference, each of which has unique infrastructure requirements. Building relationships with trusted partners who have experience in the specific business domain and data-centric workflows is also crucial for success.
The path forward
All AI and GenAI applications start with data, making it critical for organizations to use the most relevant and complete datasets and ensure their data infrastructure is secure and accessible. The journey to becoming an AI-driven enterprise is both challenging and rewarding. By embracing AI and GenAI technologies, businesses can unlock new levels of productivity and innovation.
However, achieving success requires robust IT infrastructure, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to governance and compliance. As organizations navigate the complexities of AI implementation, they must prioritize data integrity, sustainability, and continuous optimization. With the right approach and support, businesses can fully harness the potential of AI, create unique offerings, and drive sustained growth in an increasingly digital world.
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