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Inside AWS, there’s a general concern that Amazon was caught off guard by the sudden emergence of generative AI and is playing catch-up to its rivals, most notably Microsoft, according to the people who spoke with BI.
Some Amazon employees are worried that Q is losing some customers to Microsoft’s Copilot because of a lack of certain AI features, BI previously reported.
Microsoft has an advantage because of its wide range of popular business applications, including the 365 productivity suite. That makes it potentially easier for Microsoft to show customers how AI can improve their productivity, some of the Amazon employees told BI. AWS, meanwhile, has struggled to build a strong application business, despite years of trying.
AWS’s spokesperson challenged that by noting that AWS has several successful software applications for companies, including Amazon Connect, Bedrock, and SageMaker. The spokesperson also said Amazon Q launched in April and is already seeing robust growth.
It’s “no secret that generative AI is an extremely competitive space,” the spokesperson added. “However, AWS is the leader in cloud and customer adoption of our AI innovation is fueling much of our continued growth. AWS has more generative AI services than any other cloud provider, which is why our AI services alone have a multibillion-dollar run rate.”
More Speed
A major AWS reorganization earlier this year hasn’t helped the AI sales effort, according to some of the people who spoke with BI.
The big change switched AWS to more of an industry focus rather than a regional one. That caused confusion inside the company, and some large customers lost their point of contact, the people explained. AWS is still figuring out how to run as a more cohesive group, resulting in a slower sales cycle, they added.
AWS’s spokesperson said it’s “inaccurate” to say its sales process has slowed, adding that year-over-year revenue growth accelerated again in the most recent quarter, and the business is now on pace to surpass $100 billion in sales this year.
In his June fireside chat, Garman stressed the importance of speed and urged employees to “go faster.”
“Speed really matters,” Garman said. “And it doesn’t necessarily mean work more hours. It means how do we make decisions faster?”
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