Publicis Sapient, AWS announce strategic collaboration

Publicis Sapient, a digital business transformation firm, has signed a five-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to leverage AI and machine learning for enterprise IT modernisation and customer experience enhancement, the companies said on Tuesday.

The collaboration aims to integrate Publicis Sapient’s SPEED methodology — spanning strategy, product, experience, engineering, and data and AI — with AWS’ cloud services to accelerate the migration of legacy IT workloads.

The companies will develop generative AI-powered solutions for personalised digital experiences, software development optimisation, and cloud adoption acceleration.

Publicis Sapient will offer clients access to its AI and ML ecosystem, including Bodhi, an enterprise AI/ML platform built on AWS. Bodhi utilises Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock, providing model selection, enterprise-grade AI capabilities, and security measures.

Another tool, Slingshot, will facilitate software lifecycle automation and legacy system modernisation.

“Publicis Sapient has been a proud AWS partner for years. This agreement strengthens our commitment to harnessing AWS’s generative AI services to drive transformation for our clients,” said Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient.

AWS CEO Matt Garman said the collaboration “marries AWS’s advanced AI capabilities with Publicis Sapient’s transformation expertise to help businesses accelerate cloud adoption and deepen customer engagement”.

Publicis Sapient to set up an AWS business unit

As part of the agreement, Publicis Sapient is establishing an AWS business unit, investing in business development, sales, marketing, and AI capabilities. The companies plan to co-develop industry-specific AI solutions and provide AWS training for Publicis Sapient employees.

The partnership builds on existing initiatives, such as a digital showroom for a global automaker that consolidated online car shopping data across 190 markets, increasing test drives by over 900 per cent.

Another project for a pharmaceutical firm used AskBodhi on AWS to automate localised marketing content, cutting content creation costs by 35-45 per cent. Additionally, a wealth management firm transitioned its financial data platform to AWS, reducing search response time by 80 per cent and increasing advisor satisfaction.

Saudi Arabia’s national carrier, Saudia, is among the enterprises leveraging the collaboration. “AWS’s generative AI services, combined with Publicis Sapient’s expertise, are helping us innovate while ensuring security standards,” said Abdulgader Attiah, Saudia Group’s chief data and technology officer.

Publicis Sapient, recently named a leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud Professional Services 2024 Vendor Assessment, is also offering solutions like AskBodhi and Wealth Management Accelerator via AWS Marketplace.

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