Channel Brief: Intel Launches AI PC Contest, AWS and Accenture Partner on AI Readiness

With the onset of generative AI, it seems everybody wants to talk about AI readiness, AI governance, AI maturity and other AI-related buzzwords. But it can be difficult to get actual answers and recommendations on where to start and how to adopt AI efficiently.

Companies are well aware of the power and benefits behind these technologies, but don't understand what they need to perform to the best of their abilities – recent Cisco research showed only 14% of companies said they had complete confidence in their AI projects.

That's why AI readiness is so important; it encompasses all elements and best practices that companies should apply to get the most out of their AI initiatives, including things like whether data is fit for purpose, business change management, identifying opportunities and threats, security and governance of AI applications and more.

AWS and Accenture are just two major names partnering on AI readiness. Dell has an initiative through its AI factory to do similar work, Cisco has an AI readiness assessment, HPE is working with NVIDIA on AI ... everywhere you look there are opportunities to map out your AI journey, figure out the degree to which your company is prepared to adopt, integrate and create value from AI initiatives.

As always, drop me a line at [email protected] if you have news to share or want to say hi!

Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Intel contest solicits PoCs for AI PCs: A new contest from Intel will award thousands of dollars in market development funds and other incentives to partners who develop compelling proofs of concept for AI PCs. The AI PC innovation challenge is one of a slew of expanded benefits meant to encourage members of the Intel partner alliance (IPA) program to sell and drive interest in AI-enabled PCs powered by its core ultra processors, according to CRN. The expanded AI PC partner benefits are coming on the heels of Intel's announcement that it will cut 15,000 jobs and more than $10 billion in costs by the end of the year. One way Intel plans to achieve these cuts is by slashing spending within its partner-centric sales and marketing group by more than 35%, CRN reported last week.

2. nOps raises $30M to optimize AWS environments: AWS cloud optimization solutions provider nOps has raised $30 million in Series A funding, led by PE firm Headlight Partners, which brings nOps’ total raised to $40.5 million. The funds will be used to drive further growth, according to TechCrunch; founder and CEO JT Giri says that the plan is to grow the headcount from 60 employees today to 80 by the end of the year and to build new integrations with AWS products and open-source cost optimization tools. nOps generates dashboards and reports of a company’s AWS spend, and automatically applies actions like resource scheduling and “rightsizing,” stopping idle instances and containers, and dynamically adjusting storage volumes to cut down on AWS costs.

3. GoTo expands integrations across product suite: GoTo today announced a series of new integrations across its IT management and support product portfolio. GoTo Resolve now has IT support integrations with Jira, ConnectWise, FreshDesk, and more; there is an improved API library for LogMeIn Rescue and a simplified user experience in Miradore Premium+ with new Google Workspace and Entra ID integrations. The latest integrations for GoTo Resolve, LogMeIn Rescue, LogMeIn Central, and Miradore are aimed at simplifying remote support and endpoint management, streamlining workflows, resolving problems, and creating happier customers, IT admins and agents, the company said.

4. AppOmni releases State of SaaS Security report: More than one-third of companies suffered a breach last year, according to AppOmni's second annual State of SaaS Security report released today. A full 31% of respondents indicated their organizations suffered a data breach, up five points from last year. Another key finding: Only 15% of organizations indicated responsibility for SaaS security is centralized in the organization’s cybersecurity team. And 29% of respondents said they expected ROI on cybersecurity investments to become a key discussion point in the next year—measured by quantifiable risk reduction. Check out the full report here.

5. Accenture, AWS partner on AI: VentureBeat reported that Accenture and AWS are offering a way for companies to test their AI readiness and evaluate AI applications. The new offering is called Accenture Responsible AI Platform powered by AWS. The platform guides users from doing an inventory of the company’s AI applications to assess its AI maturity and submit applications for compliance. It will mainly work for companies using AWS to run AI services. Users can also customize what the platform tests for. If the company wants to emphasize one area of responsible AI or focus specifically on risks for their industry, they can do so. The platform helps companies identify specific risks, determine how to address these issues and create compliance programs for any changing regulations. This process helps enterprises to scale up or down any generative AI pilot programs, according to VentureBeat. 

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