Unlocking the Future: 5 Game-Changing Insights from VMware Explore 2023

The technology landscape is in a perpetual state of evolution, driven partly by AI's meteoric rise. Businesses aiming to stay competitive in this environment must keep pace with the latest trends and innovations in both AI and IT. VMware Explore 2023 showed enterprises how AI is reshaping the technology landscape. The conference also charted IT and AI leaders a path into the future, with innovations fueling digital transformation and scaling enterprise AI. Five key takeaways and themes stood out to me during the event, which I hope will inspire you, too.

AI and ML Accelerate Transformation Everywhere They Go

Many VMware Explore sessions showcased how AI and ML drive innovation across organizations and industries. From predictive analytics to process automation, data science and AI applications lead businesses towards innovative new business outcomes by deriving meaningful insights and actions drawn from vast amounts of data.

An integrated MLOps strategy in financial services has led to faster AI innovation, partly powered by democratized access to high-value hardware. Speakers from VMware and Domino detailed strategies to improve data scientists' efficiency and agility. The session also emphasized the importance of scaling AI solutions without sacrificing responsible AI practices. For example, democratizing access to high-value hardware across the org helps teams accelerate model building and deployment for any part of the business. Scaling challenges, however, cause companies to squander ⅔ of their AI projects. Critically for financial services, the proper MLOps methods and tools can also support regulatory compliance requirements and improve security — a boon for IT and infosec teams.

Companies need AI innovations wherever their footprint takes them, so VMware and its partners are not confining AI technology to the data center. Specifically, this means the edge: a challenging AI scenario where network connectivity to the cloud may be spotty, often with constrained local resources. This was one area where VMware showcased its expanding ability to manage and securely deliver AI solutions to the edge.

Hybrid Cloud Takes Center Stage

The increasing adoption of multi-cloud strategies and the significance of hybrid environments is a theme no one can ignore any longer. Organizations recognize the value of leveraging multiple cloud providers, and many embrace the strategy. Hybrid cloud ensures flexibility, reliability, resilience, and optimal performance. This trend directly impacts how companies manage and orchestrate AI workloads. VMware Explore's agenda reinforced the importance of having a robust data science platform capable of handling data science projects across hybrid and multi-cloud data and infrastructure. In conversation after conversation, enterprises challenged by data sovereignty and compute spending noted that multi-cloud AI resources solved both. At the same time, the strategy helps future-proof enterprise infrastructure investments across any cloud or on-premises setting.

Unlocking Generative AI for Enterprises

Generative AI is top-of-mind for any IT or data science leader today, but they need help fitting the technology inside the enterprise. Generative AI promises to be a catalyst for transforming the business, but it is still a new technology IT must govern and manage. In collaboration with NVIDIA and Domino, VMware announced the Private AI Foundation. This fully integrated solution combines best-of-breed offerings: VMware Cloud Foundation, and Generative AI software and accelerated computing from NVIDIA. Together, they will enable enterprises to customize large language models and run generative AI applications on-prem and beyond.

Domino's platform allows enterprises to build and operate these cutting-edge Generative AI solutions. Companies can deliver solutions in-house faster by accelerating internal processes and data access - both necessary to fine-tune Large Language Models. The platform supports responsible AI practices like ensuring accuracy, fairness, transparency, and accountability. Domino also addresses GenAI economics with intelligent cost optimizations and comprehensive reporting and budget controls.

IT's Evolving Role in Business Strategy

IT is rapidly evolving from a cost-and-efficiency-minded function to a strategic revenue driver, and the tenor of talks and conversations at VMware Explore 2023 underscored this transformation. The alignment between IT and overall business objectives has never appeared more pronounced. Now more than ever, businesses are looking for technology leaders to play a pivotal role in shaping digital transformation strategies. This shift places a clear premium on partnerships between technology solution providers and enterprises. As partners, companies look to vendors to help them meet their targets. Such collaboration demands a shared vision, mutual understanding, and constant alignment.

Collaboration and Partnerships Drive Innovation

With headlines emphasizing the importance of aligning IT and AI leadership to deliver on core strategic imperatives, a related message was just as evident at this year's event: Collaboration is a linchpin for innovation. Organizations are increasingly embracing partnerships to leverage diverse expertise and perspectives spanning data science to data centers. Fittingly, this resonates deeply with Domino Data Lab's partnership philosophy. We aim to empower enterprise AI through a unified platform that accelerates insights and drives business outcomes. Collaborating with industry-leading consulting and implementation firms and technology innovators is integral to that goal.

Conclusion

VMware Explore 2023 provided an invaluable opportunity to gain insights into the latest trends and innovations shaping the tech landscape. I left the event with a deeper understanding of the immense potential that emerging technologies overall, and AI specifically, hold. Collaboration, adaptability, and a forward-looking mindset were at the forefront. By harnessing AI and ML solutions and embracing the hybrid cloud, enterprises must confidently navigate the rapidly evolving technological landscape. Domino and its ecosystem are helping customers overcome these challenges today.

Interested in learning more? Read about accelerating AI innovation with Domino, NVIDIA, and VMware.