Walid Saad

AI is accelerating cloud ecosystem growth, but it's not a solo game. 🤝 How are successful SaaS and AI companies adapting their #cloud GTM playbooks for the AI age? I asked 3 industry leaders - here's what they told me. 📈 Partnership strategies are quietly transforming In our latest podcast, Neeti Gupta, CEO of AI Partnership Consultancy and alum of Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, unpacked this shift: "Partner playbooks are changing... one-on-one partnerships are happening. Then there'll be the democratization of the tools where basically, what I call the AI to API wave is going to happen…. and then finally the agent phase where the automation will happen." 🎯 Meanwhile, many try to apply AI to GTM on a tactical level: "From an ISV perspective, I see a lot of trial and error in the go-to-market side of it. And that includes building intelligent bots or assistants that will improve maybe the response from an introduction through a co-sell program at one of the hyperscalers," explained Jonathan Kingsepp, Cloud GTM Mentor and Advisor at Partner Insight. 📊 Data and customer value drive AI partnerships AI is a game-changer, but not a magic bullet. Successful cloud #partnerships will be built on data, customer value, and integrations. "Right now, data is the best value add you can provide... if you, a legacy company, have a large customer base and can provide certain kinds of data that is not available to any of these companies and you can monetize that, that is kind of the Holy Grail," Neeti Gupta highlighted. 📅 Cloud Marketplace success requires a long-term view Amidst the AI hype, it's easy to overlook the importance of relationship building and partnership efforts. Yan Zhang, former COO of PolyAI, noted on their journey to become one of AWS's key partners: "It could take years between signing up to be a partner and when you have the deal flow...it's a lot of networking within the #ecosystem." 🛠️ Service partners are crucial, especially for AI companies "I always push people to think about selling the result, right? Selling the end result rather than just the software because a dirty little secret about people who worked in AI...is that it doesn't always work all that well," Yan underscored. 💡  The implication is clear: AI will be a rising tide that lifts many boats in the cloud ecosystem. However, hyperscalers aren't just looking for AI buzzwords - they're looking for partners who can bring unique value to their ecosystem. To capitalize on this opportunity, ISVs and channel partners need to think strategically where they have an edge - whether through data, industry expertise, or custom solutions. What’s your unique advantage and how can you leverage it to become a key partner to hyperscalers? The answer may define your new cloud GTM playbook. 👍 Follow for more insights & share with others Watch the full episode on How AI is Transforming Cloud GTM and Partnership Playbooks: https://lnkd.in/e-pzvwPz

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Building on the expansive take for software industry, Are we at the cusp of 3rd stage of software play in enterprises? Stage 1 - Recruit software engineers and then build ( manage) custom software which does core and non-core of my business. This phase got optimized with Indian IT services companies using extended workday and abundant skills at lean price-points. Stage 2 - Buy the products off the shelf (with some customization for my business) for some (mostly non core but increasingly core) part of my business. This got optimized with products moving to cloud and maturing SAAS offerings. Stage 3 - Create custom software using AI Agents which are core to business which are just having features/functionality for me. As the marginal cost of code creation is tending to zero( (or at least to cost of compute/storage), why pay for product features which i do not use? Is the stage is set for next gen IT services companies which will help enterprises to move from stage 1/2 to stage 3? #AIagents #edgeverve

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A few thoughts on #LLM usage in the small, prompted by my toying with #llama3 and #phi-3 on consumer hardware.

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What a day it was! 🌈 At #FieldAssist, we recently hosted CXOs across the CPG industry to learn and share the best sales practices to streamline sales planning and execution in light of Intuitive and Incremental AI. 🚀 💡 Our expert panelists: - Sanjeev Srivastav, Business Consultant & Go-to-Market Strategist - Nikhil Toshniwal, VP - Digital & Network Initiatives at DeHaat - Vipin Rustagi, Group Head - IT and Digital at Haldiram Snacks Pvt.Ltd. - Anmol Reen Jalota, HoD - Greater India & PO - Finance & Central Functions at Signify - Nikhil Aggarwal, CPO at FieldAssist shared amazing insights from their vast experience under the successful moderation of Divir Tiwari, CEO at FieldAssist . The event highlighted the role of AI-driven tools in unlocking new possibilities, such as creating customized routes for sales reps, providing accurate demand forecasting, offering real-time on-field visibility, and enabling automated inventory rotation. 🎯 Here are some insight gems that we collected during the event - Nikhil Toshniwal, VP, Digital Transformation at DeHaat: - In rural markets, intelligence on multiple variables is the key; but due to lack of readily available data, emotions become an important variable in rural digital transformation. - AI hallucinations can be addressed by ensuring that the worst-case scenario predicted by AI matches with actual ground realities. Sanjeev Srivastav, Business Consultant & Go-to-Market Strategist: -Most brands aim to expand to rural areas, but they should first check if urban markets are saturated. Intelligent micromarket analysis can yield surprising findings. Anmol Reen Jalota, HoD - Greater India & PO - Finance & Central Functions at Signify - Smart nudges can motivate sales reps by highlighting earning opportunities and showing them how to maximize their income when money is their primary motivator. Vipin Rustagi, CIO at Haldiram’s - Every Retailer is an entrepreneur, and smart selling to them goes beyond taking orders. Brands should use AI to enhance retailer communication and meet their needs. Nikhil Aggarwal, CPO at FieldAssist, shared the key tenets of our cutting-edge FAi Suite: - We discussed the three main principles of a perfect store: Smart Range Selling, AI based In-store Execution, and Market Pulse. - Additionally we talked about integrating rep-to-route optimization, heuristics, and AI-based deduplication into our advanced FAi solution for sales planning. - On the DMS side, the industry needs to use ML technologies by moving from a static stock norm practice to a dynamic one for an effective Distributor management system. Do you agree with the takeaways? We would love to hear your thoughts. 🤔 If you need access to the session recording link, please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below. #industrytrends #insights #sales #ai #technology

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The accolades keep coming in! Denodo won the Database Trends and Applications (#DBTA) 2024 Readers' Choice Awards in not just one but two categories - "Best Data Virtualization Solution" (which we have won sevaral times) and "Best Data Platform" (which we have won for the first time)! Thanks to our customers for your vote of confidence!! Super exciting!!! Here's my take on the wins: https://lnkd.in/gukaetUK #datavirtualization #dataplatform

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🚀 Are you ready for the new Data Fabric architecture? Do you know how to maintain the quality of your data and data pipelines, and optimize your infrastructure within this new framework? 🎤 Join our CTO and co-founder, Ashwin Rajeeva today. 👉 Register now for this engaging and informative roundtable discussion and webinar by DBTA! #DataFabric #DataObservability #Data #DataManagement #Acceldata #DBTA #OnlyCompleteDataObservabilitySolution #AcceldataProud Mahesh Kumar 🤝 Ramon Chen. Lorena Andrews. Rohit Choudhary Ashwin Rajeeva Gaurav Nagar Raghu Mitra Kandikonda Mike McQuaid Stuart Laidlaw

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With GenAI and AI agent progressing rapidly how we interact with Business systems will be reimagined drastically. From the terminal to a UI to now the AI agents may also change the form factor of how we interact with computers.

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Ever wondered about the product nobody asked for? Dive into the dramatic tale of Koo's rollercoaster journey, featuring a quote by Arijit Basu, VP of Growth & Strategy, BC Web Wise. https://lnkd.in/didD8yQr #bcwebwise #fishsense #TechDrama #InnovationStruggles #BusinessJourney #MarketTrends #GrowthStrategy #DigitalDisruption #ProductDevelopment #LessonsInBusiness

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🚀 Unlocking the Power of Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) 🚀 In the world of AI-driven search and recommendation systems, accuracy is critical—and that's where Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) shines. Rather than relying on a single algorithm to produce results, RRF leverages multiple ranking systems, merging their outputs to deliver more precise and relevant outcomes. 📊 🔍 Why is this pivotal? In industries that demand high precision, like recommendation engines and information retrieval, RRF optimizes the decision-making process by amplifying the results that rank consistently across different systems. This blend of rankings is particularly useful for improving AI performance, ensuring that top results are not only accurate but also contextually relevant. 💡 How does RRF drive value? RRF assigns higher significance to results ranked consistently well by multiple models, balancing between quick wins and strategic relevance. By synthesizing data from various ranking systems, RRF enhances the reliability of recommendation algorithms, delivering outcomes that help businesses make smarter, data-driven decisions faster. In a nutshell: Enhanced rankings lead to better insights, and better insights drive business success! 💼 #AI #MachineLearning #ReciprocalRankFusion #SearchOptimization #DataScience #RankingAlgorithms #TechLeadership #Innovation

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*New episode of Level Up Prodcast with Malthi SS" In this episode, I chat with Sonali Nanda, who is Senior Vice President at Exxat. Prior to Exaat, Sonali was product leader with High Radius and managed a fairly large team with #Product, #Design, #Analytics and Ops. We spoke about: 💠 Managing different things as a Product Leader - people, product, strategy. 💠How to Foster Innovation and Creativity 💠Balancing Speedy Execution and Strategic Thinking 💠Advice for Women in Product Management 💠Managing Diverse Teams and Priorities Check the episode for tons of insights #ProductLeadership #WomenInLeadership #TechInnovation #CareerDevelopment #ProductManagement #EmpoweringWomen #LeadershipDevelopment #ProfessionalGrowth

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Forget *almost* everything you know about large language models (#LLMs). It’s time to bust some myths. Popular generative AI tools like #ChatGPT have led to misunderstandings about how LLMs can be used in the contact center and beyond. Luckily, Ping Wu (Cresta CEO) is on the scene to set things straight. He spoke with CX Today about 3 misconceptions contact centers have: 1) LLMs are just end-to-end text generation machines. 2) LLMs are limited to question-answering. 3) LLMs don't always follow human intelligence intuition. His final take? Future #contactcenters will thrive as hybrid human-AI systems, enhancing both automation and human capabilities. Get all of the details of his conversation with CX Today here: https://lnkd.in/dTH9RrDX

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Looking back, 2023 was a year of trials. And, 2024 has been a year where multiple retail customers have deployed their Generative AI solutions for both - their customers and employees. Our retail customers are seeing various benefits ranging from increasing sales to enhancing productivity. As we partner with retailers around the globe, we have more than 75 use cases and AI solutions that benefit every part of a retailer’s business. While some of these solutions were proposed by us, others were co-created with retailers through workshops and hackathons. As an icing on the cake, some retailers also won industry awards for their Generative AI solutions. We are inspired by the creativity and determination shown by our retail customers to deploy these solutions. Here is a peak into how AI is helping the retail and other industries. https://lnkd.in/gCsjZ2ug As the peak retail trading season kicks off in many parts of the world, we continue to partner with retailers in running their operations smoothly. Here’s wishing them the best for this critical time of the year.

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AI/ML is enabling real change in Supply Chains around the world. Penned some thoughts on Why and How. Would love to hear thoughts on what you think. How real is the impact of volatility and disruption? How are organizations coping with it? #DecisionIntelligence #AISupplyChain #ML #SupplyChainDisruption

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Happening today at Empowering Beyond 2024! 2024 is the year of #GenerativeAI for the Enterprise! Join me for the panel discussion on 'Leveraging GenAI for Enabling Enterprise Transformation' with Amit Srivastav, Vikrant Karnik and Chris Donahoe #EmpoweringBeyond2024 #PanelDiscussion #Enterprise #GenerativeAI #GCP #GoogleCloud #VertexAI

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Implementing modern sales forecasting methods are crucial that can help your sales team boost its success and positively impact your entire business. Reach out to me at [email protected] to know more in detail.

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Building on Spotlight’s comprehensive #retailanalytics capabilities, DataCanvas seamlessly integrates with Excel to empower category, sales, and supply chain teams. Bill Kloza, Co-President at Nuqleous, said, “We understand the challenges retail teams face with managing multiple datasets. DataCanvas addresses those challenges head-on, providing a streamlined solution that maximises time efficiency and drives strategic decision-making.” https://lnkd.in/gJPv27BY

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Listen to Episode 3 of Powering Product Innovation for a deep dive into how cloud, AI and automation have evolved into product engineering’s dream team. Join Cognizant’s Deb Eastman, Head of Platforms and SaaS & VP, and Prasad Sankaran, EVP Software & Platform Engineering, as they explore the changes rippling through product engineering and what they mean for development and testing teams. Key takeaways include: • Why cloud infrastructure is driving innovation • The role of hyperscalers and cloud platforms in providing a path to generative AI capabilities • How AI will make development and testing jobs more meaningful—and productive. • Why responsible AI needs to happen at the enterprise level. • How companies can drive hyper-automation across the enterprise. Listen today and learn how to position your company’s product engineering for success. https://bit.ly/3Vb3rFH #productdesign #cloud #AI #automation #Cognizant

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🔥 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 🔥 What Does 2025 and Beyond Look Like for CPG and Retail? Just wrapped up an incredible conversation between Freddy Guard (Head of Industry GTM - Consumer Goods at Snowflake) and Cem Kent (CEO of Harmonya) at our Complexity to Clarity event. Here are some of the key themes shaping the future of CPG and retail: 🚀 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗣𝗚? • AI-driven content generation is helping brands localize messaging at scale • Chatbots and BI copilots are transforming customer interactions • Document intelligence is unlocking efficiency from insights to procurement 🔮 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 Slower organic growth and shrinking margins mean we’ll see more M&A as brands look for the right portfolio mix. 🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗧𝗖 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸 & 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗿 Brands need to harmonize their go-to-market strategies, especially when it comes to understanding consumer behavior and merging data from DTC and B&M. 💸 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 Retailers are all about monetizing media networks, while brands are figuring out how to budget for it. The demand for transparency in measuring the impact across networks is growing. 📊 𝗢𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲 Success starts with data: a solid data strategy is the foundation for AI. Can you get your data mobilized, secure, and ready to drive results? The quality of data inputs will set you apart. 🤔 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘃𝘀. 𝗕𝘂𝘆? The talent needed to build and maintain AI is tough to acquire and retain. Consider outsourcing non-core functions like data harmonization to focus on what truly drives your business forward. 🛠️ 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗣𝗚 & 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹: 𝟱/𝟭𝟬 CPG is in the middle of the pack compared to other industries, with Retail slightly ahead of CPG due to proprietary data. With the right data strategy, governance, and prioritization, AI is set to revolutionize both industries. Let’s keep pushing forward with AI adoption and drive real impact in 2025 and beyond! #complexitytoclarity #CPG #Retail #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #DataStrategy #DigitalTransformation #BusinessGrowth #Snowflake #Harmonya

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