AWS: Focus on LatAm SMEs for cloud, data and AI projects

Widely contracted by large corporations, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is targeting Latin American small- and mid-sized enterprises for deployments and projects involving cloud computing, data and AI.

“Today, cloud penetration [within SMEs] is still small compared to the enterprise segment. But we already have hundreds of thousands of smaller clients that work with us. And this is the fastest growing segment on AWS, not least because many companies are just starting on this cloud journey,” Raul Lozano, head of Telco and SMB at AWS LatAm, told BNamericas.

Lozano estimates Latin America has a base of around 17.5mn SMBs, excluding small offices and home offices, that could potentially be addressed by AWS, with generative AI as a key growth driver. The global leader in public cloud seeks to reinforce the training of its network of channels and partners to help small companies separate the AI hype from the real need to apply the technology, said Lozano.

In cloud, the strategy centers around facilitating access to AWS’ latest suites and platforms.

STUDY

Despite being in an earlier stage in cloud, AWS sees SMBs leveraging the accelerating data growth to improve business outcomes and create competitive advantages

S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research conducted a global survey for the cloud company with more than 2,300 SMBs to explore how these businesses utilize data in decision-making, their investment levels in data and AI, the maturity of their data strategies, and their adoption and use of AI.

SMBs in Latin America reported the highest rate of data strategy maturity of all regions surveyed, according to the study.

More than a quarter (27%) of those surveyed in the region identified as "highly data-driven companies," a higher rate than in all other regions observed in the study. This can be interpreted in different ways. One is that small companies in Latin America may be demonstrating a different, potentially brighter, and more optimistic vision of what it means to be data-driven and what it means to use data in their processes compared to other regions.

In any case, the study says that highly data-driven organizations in LatAm are significantly ahead in their data strategy maturity, with more than three-quarters (77%) of these SMBs reporting being in the most mature “comprehensive” stage.

Survey respondents also identified their adoption/use of AI across seven critical business functions. According to the study, “significant proportions” of highly data-driven SMBs in LatAm are using or piloting AI for IT operations and cybersecurity (61% of the respondents); marketing and advertising (59%); customer satisfaction/customer experience (54%); operations and finance (52%); content creation and data analysis (49%); workforce, HR and legal (47%) and supply chain optimization (38%).