On July 10th 2024, the AWS NYC Summit took place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, bringing together technology enthusiasts, industry leaders, and professional services partners to explore the latest advancements in cloud computing. This annual event is a must-attend for anyone looking to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving tech landscape. Attendees benefited from insightful keynotes, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities that provide a comprehensive understanding of AWS’s offerings and their practical applications. I walked away from the conference with three major takeaways.

  1. AI, AI, and More AI!

The dominant theme of this year’s summit was undoubtedly artificial intelligence. By my estimation, roughly 80% of the vendors in the expo hall referenced AI in their booth backdrops, highlighting its pervasive influence to customers across all sectors— government and commercial. The keynote featured Dr. Matt Wood, VP for AI Products, AWS. After his Welcome slide, the two words that presented behind him were “Generative AI,” saying this is “what’s top of mind and the only thing to talk about.”

More specifically, AWS announced the following new features for some of their leading generative AI products like Amazon Q:

  • Amazon Q Developer in SageMaker Studio: This new generative AI assistant helps streamline machine learning workflows by providing tailored guidance, code generation, and error troubleshooting.
  • Knowledge Bases for Amazon Bedrock: Now supports additional data connectors, including Confluence, Salesforce, SharePoint, and web domains, enhancing the accuracy and relevance of responses.
  • Guardrails for Amazon Bedrock: Introduced hallucination detection and an independent API to ensure responsible and trustworthy outputs from generative AI applications.
  • Agents for Amazon Bedrock: Now support memory retention and code interpretation, enabling dynamic execution of code snippets for tasks like data analysis and visualization.
  • Amazon Q Apps: Now generally available, allowing users to build generative AI apps from conversations using natural language and approved data sources.
  • AWS App Studio: A new low-code service in public preview that enables the creation of secure custom apps in minutes without the need for development teams.

  1. Amazon is a Leader in Hands-On Workshops

AWS’s hands-on workshops stood out for their effectiveness and engagement. Unlike other conferences, AWS ensures that participants not only learn about their products but also get to use them in real-world scenarios. The workshops, led by AWS specialists and architects, were a highlight and opportunity to get hands-on with some of the new features announced that day. Additionally, I saw the impact it had on prospective customers who appreciated the opportunity to get hands-on experience.

It’s no surprise that a company like Amazon is an industry leader when they create environments that foster learning and innovation. The workshops at the AWS Summit are a testament to this, providing invaluable training that helps users understand and leverage AWS’s vast array of tools and services.

  1. Building Towards the Future with Amazon Connect

Building on the AI theme, Amazon Connect, AWS’s contact center product, showcased how AI is set to revolutionize customer service. Every workshop on Amazon Connect emphasized features like Amazon Q. The workshops demonstrated using Amazon Q to connect to a knowledge base and generate real-time suggestions for contact center agents to resolve customer issues. Additionally, there were examples of Amazon Q providing responses directly to customers through querying a knowledge base and displaying it via a chatbot, without agent intervention.

These workshops highlight a significant trend in Amazon Connect’s evolution towards a future where AI-driven solutions handle most customer inquiries, reducing the need for traditional call center agents. Features like robust knowledge bases, FAQs, and Amazon Q are being prioritized over features like Call Whispering (or Coach Mode), which is notably missing from Amazon Connect. This shift underscores AWS’s forward-thinking approach, preparing organizations for an AI-driven future.

Conclusion

The 2024 AWS NYC Summit was a showcase of innovation, learning, and forward-thinking strategies. From the overwhelming presence of AI to the hands-on workshops and future-focused developments in Amazon Connect, the summit provided valuable insights and practical knowledge for all attendees. As AWS continues to push the boundaries of technology, events like these are crucial for staying informed and prepared for the future. This event also underscores the current sentiment of customers. If an organization is going to invest in its technological infrastructure over the next few years, it might not consider any options that don’t include generative AI.

Author

Andrew Ramadan

I’m a Business Development Manager at Vision Point Systems where I guide existing and potential accounts through the entire customer lifecycle, overseeing discovery to account management and ensuring they attain desired outcomes from VPS services and solutions. I also assist our executive team in developing our go-to-market strategy for our services team and solutions, developed in collaboration with our technology partners Appian, Twilio, Intercom, and AWS.

Before this role, I spent five years as a technical consultant, primarily leading software development teams building on the Appian platform.

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