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Windward’s Maritime AI™ insights are now available via the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace for ocean freight visibility, trading and shipping, and government and public sector. Before we break down the details and list four reasons why this is great news for maritime end users, let’s give a quick overview of enterprise cloud adoption and vertical AI.
Enterprises Have Long Prized the Cloud
Ninety-four (94)% of enterprises use cloud services,and 67% of enterprise infrastructure was already cloud-based way back in 2019, according to a “state of the cloud” report. By Q4 2022, AWS had captured approximately 32% of the cloud infrastructure services market share, making it the most popular vendor.
AWS services are far from just a technical basic requirement. They are a way to engage with AI, accelerate innovation, and have CIOs lead the charge on implementing best-in-class software solutions. AWS Marketplace is a digital catalog that customers can use to find, buy, deploy, and manage third-party software, data, and services, to build solutions and effectively run their businesses.
AWS Marketplace includes thousands of software listings from popular categories, such as security, business applications, AI models, and data products.
Where Does Vertical AI Fit within the AWS Strategy?
AWS is creating an ecosystem of AI solutions, such as transportation visibility stacks, to help accelerate organizations’ move into AI technologies, and optimize profitability and operations.
Vertical AI companies focus on providing specialized AI solutions tailored to specific industries. In contrast, general visibility providers offer broader visibility solutions across various industries. The distinction lies in the depth of industry expertise, domain-specific algorithms, and tailored functionalities that vertical AI companies bring to the table.
The combination of Maritime AI™ with cloud services is a potent one.
Windward Joins the AWS Marketplace
Windward has trusted the AWS Marketplace for years to procure different AI and cloud solutions, including Coralogix and Rockset.
Below you can see AWS’ modern data strategy and how Windward fits in:
Why It Matter for our Customers
Here are four reasons this will benefit our customers:
Stamp of quality, assurance, and compliance: to join the AWS Marketplace, vendors must go through a Foundational Technical Review – this goes beyond the ISO 27001 that Windward already obtained. This means our customers know from a trustworthy source that when they work with Windward, they receive enterprise-grade privacy and security.
Enterprise cloud-spend optimization: the vast majority of businesses using cloud services are signed up to an Enterprise Discount Program (EDP). Organizations that commit to a predetermined annual AWS spend (typically $1 million or more) are eligible for contractually outlined discounts. Marketplace purchases are accounted for in your overall EDP commitment, allowing you to optimize your spend on what you need in the most convenient way, without overspending/over-provisioning just to reach the commitment.
This is true for existing customers who would like to have the renewal done via the marketplace, as well as new customers who prefer to sign up this way.
Faster onboarding: acquiring solutions from the AWS marketplace allows for faster onboarding of new solutions. Even after deciding which AI company you want to partner with, it can take 1-6 months just to go through procurement and vendor onboarding, from our experience. Procuring via the AWS Marketplace puts that on the fast track, allowing onboarding, billing, and contracting via your AWS cloud agreement in minutes.
Tailored plans and agreements: it’s clear to us that enterprise customers need a tailored offering. As a Maritime AI™ company, we have multiple modules, APIs, products, and capabilities. Once you decide what works best for your organization, you can receive a private offering tailored to your needs and T&Cs.
This is all part of our journey to bring Maritime AI to the broader maritime and logistics market, however our customers want to access our insights . Making the discovery of Vertical AI solutions better and more effective, and streamlining procurement are key elements in how we can better serve our customers and partners globally.
Want to Hear More Details?
Everything you need to know about Maritime AI™ directly to your LinkedIn
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