Hitachi & Google Cloud partner to boost enterprise AI solutions

Hitachi and Google Cloud have announced a multi-year partnership to enhance enterprise innovation and productivity through generative AI. Under the leadership of GlobalLogic, a digital engineering player and subsidiary of Hitachi, the two companies will form the Hitachi Google Cloud Business Unit and the Google Cloud Centre of Excellence (CoE). These new entities aim to accelerate the deployment of Google Cloud technologies to new and existing enterprise customers.

Hitachi plans to use Google Cloud's Vertex AI and Gemini models to address industry challenges, thereby improving business performance. The partnership will also serve to advance Hitachi's Lumada, its core digital business, and operational efficiencies across the Hitachi Group. Toshiaki Tokunaga, Executive Vice President and Executive Officer at Hitachi, highlighted that the collaboration would enhance employee productivity and drive innovation by leveraging Google Cloud's AI capabilities.

A key focus of the partnership is the development of new GenAI solutions for software modernisation and customer service. Hitachi intends to use Gemini models to help businesses efficiently modernise legacy software systems. Additionally, Google Cloud's Contact Centre AI will be employed to provide more effective and accurate customer service experiences. For example, through Google Cloud Agent Assist, customer service representatives will receive real-time knowledge assistance and resolution suggestions, increasing productivity and service quality.

Hitachi's new solutions will support customers operating on-premises and in the cloud, enabling them to modernise operations while retaining their existing IT environments. These solutions will also be compatible with Hitachi Vantara's hybrid cloud platform, Virtual Storage Platform One, allowing users to build GenAI applications using stored data.

As part of their joint strategy, Hitachi and Google Cloud will align their sales, marketing, and engineering teams to ensure that customers have the necessary resources to deploy and manage GenAI projects effectively. This will include the GenAI Professionals trained by Hitachi on Google Cloud technology. Nitesh Banga, CEO of the Digital Engineering Business Unit at Hitachi and President & CEO of GlobalLogic, stated that the alliance would strategically align their go-to-market approach to produce tangible results, enhancing efficiency and accelerating solution delivery.

Training and development are also central to the partnership. Hitachi has committed to training over 50,000 GenAI Professionals through its global training program, which now includes modules on Google Cloud's AI solutions and technologies. This initiative aims to provide large-scale organisations with the expertise and managed services required to fundamentally improve their operations with AI.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, remarked that the partnership would offer customers the advanced technology and expertise necessary to successfully deploy generative AI across their organisations. The collaboration promises to improve various industry sectors, including energy, mobility, manufacturing, and digital services.

Hitachi and Google Cloud have a long-standing collaboration history, spanning over 15 years. This new partnership aims to build on that foundation by harnessing the capabilities of Google Cloud's advanced AI tools to enhance business outcomes and employee productivity.