As AI deployments rise to the top of CEO priorities, global telecom provider Orange and Google Cloud are redefining timetables for successful AI rollouts by taking one of their multiple AI engagements from pilot to formal production in just four weeks.
While not all AI projects can match that timetable, the milestone achieved by Orange and Google Cloud is significant for a few reasons:
- it will push other telecom companies as well as businesses in every industry to reimagine what constitutes a “reasonable” deadline for AI projects;
- it serves as a powerful example of the unprecedented role partners can play in AI projects as ongoing innovation collaborators; and
- it will help demystify the notion that AI initiatives are generally inscrutable, unwieldy, potentially dangerous, and so fragile that they have to be slow-walked at every phase.
At the Google Cloud Next event last week, CEO Thomas Kurian cited the remarkable achievement by Orange as an example of the new type of high-velocity, high-impact AI projects that are possible when customers work closely with AI ecosystem partners on a rolling and continuous basis.
“We’re seeing a powerful change in how partners deliver AI solutions to corporations,” Kurian said.
“Not only is the buyer outside of IT, but they’re also finding that the line between POC [proof of concept] and formal rollout is fluid. As an example, Orange went from pilot to production traffic in four weeks,” Kurian said, adding that “because model capability changes so quickly and improves so quickly, the engagement between customer and partner moves to an ongoing basis.”
That revelation coincided with Orange announcing a significant expansion of its AI and GenAI partnership with Google Cloud spanning multiple initiatives aimed at deploying those transformative technologies closer to customer operations. A core technology underpinning that expanded partnership is Google Distributed Cloud, which allows Orange to deploy AI services not only within Google Cloud but also at the edge, in air-gapped environments, on-premises, and across clouds from other vendors.
I’ll share some details on Orange’s related business objectives in a moment, but first want to highlight this emphatic comment from Orange CEO Christel Heydemann because she very deliberately chose to focus on the ability of AI and GenAI to drive operational excellence and enhanced business outcomes. As you’ll see, she and Orange are providing the antithesis to the paralysis by analysis to which some AI-curious business leaders have succumbed.
“We have a mission to accelerate value creation for Orange with every job, every network, and every customer experience super-powered by responsible AI. Orange sees enormous value in AI across every dimension of our business. This partnership with Google Cloud and the cutting-edge solutions announced today are foundational to Orange achieving AI at scale and is a major step towards unlocking significant value from all of our data.”
Let’s go through the checklist Heydemann provides because it’s a great example of the need to counterbalance appropriate thoughtfulness and evaluation with ambitious customer-facing vision and execution :
- accelerate value creation end to end;
- aim for nothing short of “AI at scale”;
- focus on responsible AI; and
- generate “significant value from all of our data.”
That looks like a pretty solid set of goals that every CEO should use as a foundation, coupled with a strong commitment to accelerating the drive to production.
Inside the Orange-Google Cloud AI partnership
Orange’s aggressive posture on its AI work with Google Cloud builds on a long strategic relationship the companies have had, going back to 2020 when they formed their “data and AI” partnership. Over that time, Google Cloud’s rapid growth to an annualized run-rate of $37 billion has enabled it to keep pace with the global ambitions of Orange, which operates in 26 countries.
Here are some of the key business outcomes Orange is targeting with the extended and expanded partnership with Google Cloud, as outlined in the Orange announcement:
Smarter Networks: With GDC, Orange will get an environment to run sensitive network data and AI workloads that some country regulators may require to be local or on-premise. From capacity planning to root cause analysis, Orange can benefit from significant improvements in network planning and design through the automation of reporting, classification, and analysis.
Operational Efficiency: Orange will be able to run gen AI models on-premise in an environment that is very elegantly integrated into similar Vertex AI services on Google Cloud. Orange’s operations and customer service teams will benefit from those AI models by getting the answers they need faster, while customers will experience a faster time-to-resolution and improved quality of service.
Improved Customer Experience: Beyond the contact center, Orange has leveraged AI and Google Cloud technology to deliver personalized recommendations for relevant phones, plans, and services–improving customer lifetime value. GDC also allows gen AI-based speech recognition to occur in each Orange country, bringing these powerful AI technologies even to countries without a Google Cloud region.
Final Thought
Orange’s ambitious plans provide an excellent example of the unfolding cloud+AI capabilities that are essential for customers looking to do more than tinker around the margins with AI. And for Google Cloud, the Orange partnership gives it the chance to display what it can do across a range of desired outcomes with its end-to-end cloud and AI solutions.
As Kurian said in the announcement, “Businesses are increasingly bringing GenAI solutions to the edge of the network to ensure better agility, responsiveness, and resilience. Our partnership with Orange addresses that need, combining data, reliable infrastructure, and leading AI technologies to create new solutions to meet Orange’s global needs.”
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