Techaisle Blog

While Google Cloud Next offered a flurry of AI announcements, Google Workspace emerged as the surprise star, particularly for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and midmarket firms. Google Workspace stole the show for SMBs. Here's what grabbed my attention:

• Video Made Easy with Google Vids: Powered by Google’s AI technology Gemini, Google Vids is a game-changer for SMBs in creating professional videos. Imagine a Recording Studio experience with a massive library of stock footage, music, and GIFs at your fingertips. AI-powered editing removes unwanted noise, ensuring pristine audio quality. Seamless video sharing and collaboration within Workspace eliminate email ping-pong, empowering teams to work together securely.
• Vertex AI Meets Workspace: This integration unlocks a treasure trove of possibilities for SMBs. With over 130 pre-built AI foundation models, SMBs can build custom solutions to automate complex workflows, which translates to significant time savings, improved access to relevant data, and a productive workforce. This means more time for strategic planning and less time spent on repetitive tasks, enhancing accessibility to pertinent data and improving the employee experience. The integration equips SMBs to take control of their workflows and focus on what matters.
• Supercharge Meetings with the Gemini Meet Add-on: For $10 per user per month, the meeting experience can be elevated with features like "Take Notes for Me," "Translate for Me" (supporting 69 languages!), and studio-quality audio and video. Plus, adaptive audio ensures clear communication even in impromptu laptop-based meetings. This add-on is perfect for space-constrained SMBs and is a significant productivity booster.
• AI Boosts Chat Productivity: Gemini in Chat is an intelligent sidekick. Gemini is there whether one needs answers from across the web, summaries of lengthy documents, or a helping hand sorting through emails and chats. It even helps craft the perfect tone for messages and prioritizes conversations based on the most frequent contacts and urgent tasks. And for those quick collaborations, Huddles in Chat offers a one-click meeting experience. Did I mention interoperability with Slack and Teams, allowing for effortless collaboration across different messaging services?
• Enhanced Security with the New Gemini Security Add-on: For an additional $10 per user per month, businesses can bolster their Workspace security with advanced AI features. These include data classification and integrate seamlessly with existing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) controls. Additionally, privacy-preserving customer-specific AI models provide an extra layer of protection for sensitive data.

According to Techaisle's survey data of more than 2100 SMBs, one of the top five priorities for 2024 is to enhance and invest in collaboration solutions, and 87% plan to increase usage in 2024. Implementing a uniform collaboration solution that can function smoothly on all employee devices is also a challenge for 24% of SMBs.

Key findings from Techaisle’s SMB and Midmarket AI Adoption Trends Research of 2100 businesses paint a promising future where AI is set to revolutionize traditional channel business models. This technological advancement offers a multitude of benefits, reshaping business operations, transforming IT economics, and enhancing service delivery capabilities. AI's reach extends beyond technical managers, presenting a vast array of opportunities for channel partners to explore and cater to a broader buying group.

SMB and Midmarket AI spending plans indicate that high expectations for business impact will indeed map to significant increases in solution spending. Over 40% of upper midmarket firms, nearly 40% of core midmarket firms, and almost 30% of small businesses expect AI-related IT spending to increase by more than 25% in 2024. The mean increase across these segments ranges from 22% to 28%. This potential increase in solution spending should motivate channel partners to seize the AI opportunity and drive their businesses forward.

To get a clear picture of how a channel adapts to market change, Techaisle interviewed 2,115 channel firms. Survey data shows dramatic year-over-year changes in channel business priorities. At the top level, last year’s channel was mainly worried about handling uncertainty, while this year’s channel is focused on growth. In 2024, worries about uncertainty have almost dropped out of the top 10 channel business issues, overtaken by agility, competitiveness, and business process improvement goals. The second-highest priority for the 2024 channel, “developing AI offerings,” was not even a choice in 2023. AI is creating a strong attraction for the channel because it is changing the market that the channel serves. Channel firms that thrive through the transition to AI-inclusive technology and business infrastructure must quickly abandon legacy assumptions about how they operate, the services they offer, and the buyers they serve within client accounts.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been a leader in cloud computing since 2006. Its success depends on a strong network of channel partners. These partners are brought together through the AWS Partner Network (APN), which fosters collaboration and enables the creation of solutions and services for customers. The APN has expanded over time to include various programs. It's worth noting that the APN has over 130,000 partners from 150 countries, with nearly 70% headquartered outside the US. Although large enterprises have greatly benefited from these programs, AWS has recognized small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) play a significant role in the global economy. As a result, AWS has recently introduced the SMB Competency Program, a strategic initiative designed to empower partners serving SMB customers. After extensive discussions with partners and an in-depth understanding of SMB requirements, AWS unveiled its robust program in January 2024.

AWS SMB Competency Partners provide solutions and services tailored to SMBs' requirements. This covers platform solutions such as migration and modernization, security, data storage, disaster recovery, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and SaaS solutions, including accounting, resource management, customer service, and relationship management. AWS SMB Competency Partners serve as a single source for SMBs who want to use the AWS cloud to solve their specific business problems.

The inaugural iteration of the program comprises 30 partners, spanning services and software with expertise in managed services, security, AI, modernization, migration, disaster recovery, and cloud business applications. These categories have been thoughtfully chosen to align with SMB priorities.

I have personally spoken with each of these 30 partners, and they unanimously endorse and express enthusiasm for the AWS SMB Competency program.

According to Techaisle’s 2024 research data on SMB and Midmarket priorities and challenges, 55% of customers view partner competencies as “absolutely essential” when assessing partner capabilities. In contrast, 36% of customers prioritize certifications in their evaluation. This emphasizes competencies' critical role in demonstrating a partner’s expertise and ability to meet customer needs.

Focused on growth and committed to new solutions that expand business horizons – the SMB market is on the brink of a multi-year growth trajectory.