Day-to-day work as an AWS cloud specialist can sometimes feel…well…a bit solitary. We can start to feel like the computer screen is our primary companion.
So, when an AWS Summit is upon us, we all get pretty pumped. The day is buzzing with excitement. Everyone is ready to deep dive into endless cloud computing trends, swap war stories or share triumphs in the world of AWS.
How often do we have the opportunity to discuss all of the groundbreaking innovations within cloud computing and learn from each other’s experiences?
Not often enough.
As AWS Summit London approaches, we want to help our community connect, explore new ways to leverage AWS services and continue to work together and maintain friendships, virtually at least, once the conference ends.
It’s officially time to leave the keyboard behind and get talking. So whether you’re queuing for a much-needed coffee or headed to the bar for some networking, here are some ice breakers to throw out there.
Ice Breaker #1: The AI-meets-data-security Debate
We all know AI is the topic de jour. It started with ChatGPT and has spawned into MANY impressive platforms. And AWS, being the cloud computing pioneer, is not one to be left behind. AWS, in recent years has developed numerous services to harness to power of AI in order to streamline processes and improve decision-making.
Pre-trained AI services like AWS Sagemaker allow developers to build, train and deploy ML models and even integrate them into existing AWS services, simplifying storage, compute and data management. Or if you fancy becoming an instant rockstar, you could play with Amazon Deep Composer.
Recently, the most talked about launch is AWS Bedrock, a fully managed serverless platform where developers can cater to their specific needs and create their own AI app by leveraging models from leading AI companies. Need a chatbot or ideas to streamline business procedures? Maybe even a Hollywood movie pitch? It’s all possible with AWS Bedrock.
AWS Sets A New Standard in Safeguarding Your Data Using AI
But because data privacy and safeguarding information has been of utmost priority for enterprises, AWS has very recently taken on a broader strategy in combining the landscape of AI collaboration and data protection. A lesser-known service that addresses this is AWS Clean Rooms.
AWS Clean Rooms is groundbreaking in that it combines both AI and security by introducing Clean Rooms ML and Clean Rooms Differential Privacy. Since a significant challenge in the AI industry tends to be security, AWS is enabling safe collaboration in AI projects and additionally ensures data encryption through Transport Layer Security (TLS).
Clean Rooms ML allows businesses to collaborate on AI projects by creating “lookalike” AI models without sharing proprietary data. Clean Rooms Differential Privacy essentially obfuscates the customer data that is uploaded and generates insights on this information.
Companies can therefore make investment decisions, do clinical research, create advertising campaigns and much more, without ever divulging proprietary data.
In the age of increasing ransomware threats, this is critical. The fact that companies can train AI models in their cloud environments and ensure data privacy and control transforms how companies can create value and make decisions. It truly sets a new standard for AI in the business world.
Ice Breaker #2: The Industry Intro
AWS industry specific services have been quickly developing in order to cater to the unique needs of various sectors. These services ensure optimization of company operations and thus accelerate innovation.
For example, AWS has been working with Pfizer to create an innovative machine learning, cloud-based solution to improve drug development, manufacturing and the distribution process. Everyone in Pharma should be looking out for services like Amazon Lookout for Equipment for predictive maintenance of equipment used in clinical drug manufacturing.
Another example is in the media world. Content Production, Media Supply Chain & Archive and Broadcast are all extremely helpful tools designed to help entertainment companies compete for audience attention.
Get familiar with your specific industry services. Talk to your fellow community members! AWS Summit is a chance to seek your people out and understand the tools they are using in order scale effectively.
Ice Breaker #3: The Cost Transparency Talk
Cost savings may not be the sexiest topic ever brought up at an AWS Summit, but nevertheless it’s as important as it ever was. And we’ll argue, even more so as cloud costs continue to skyrocket. Workloads are scaling faster and becoming more complex—not to mention the increasing adoption of multi and cross-cloud setups.
Latest Updates From AWS Cost Explorer: Historical Transparency
Back in November’s reinvent, AWS announced a new extended and more granular cost history would now be available within Cost Explorer.
Now Cost Explorer offers up to 38 months of historical data so your monthly and annual cost comparison can be viewed over the past three years. AWS users can compare last month’s cost of the same month one, two and three years ago. Resource data is also available at a granular level over this extended time span.
This is a free feature and is available in all AWS commercial regions (except China). and is crucial for understanding and visualizing your AWS costs and usage over time.
Why do we love this? Cost analysis over time is no longer a mystery or a time-consuming task. Lack of transparency is the key driving factor to sticker shock, and now with the ability to understand which resources are our cost drivers and how they compare to previous months and years, companies can easily tackle their expenditures.
See you in London on April 24th!
Here’s to social interaction and breaking free from the shackles of your keyboard for a day!
As an AWS aficionado, you know the list of AWS services to discuss is nearly endless. But these 3 topics are our top picks for AWS developments that can spark interesting discussions with peers at the big event.
Talk to us! We are happily giving personal Disaster Recovery healthchecks to visitors at our expo Booth S30.
Book a time HERE.
Jessica is Senior Global Campaigns Manager at N2WS with more than 10 years of experience. Jessica enjoys very spicy foods, lifting heavy things and cold snowy mountains (even though she lives near the arid desert).
