Exclusive Interview with Jack Singh, Advisor at Avahi

Photo byJack Singh, Avahi

The cloud industry is skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate. With trends emerging left and right, leaders from different sectors are quickly scouring for the most cutting-edge solutions to catch up with this new wave of technological advancement. From migration to optimization, it is paramount for companies to ensure a flawless and seamless cloud management system to boost their productivity and drive competitive advantage.

We had the chance to interview Jack Singh, Advisor at Avahi, a cloud-native focused company and AWS partner with a team of cloud, data, and software engineering experts and experience obtained through years of working within the cloud ecosystem. Their goal is to help companies in understanding the benefits of a cloud-first strategy and facilitate their transition to the cloud, thus speeding up the introduction of new offerings and decreasing the expenses associated with creating, implementing, and maintaining them.

What are some of the latest cloud trends that you look forward to in navigating this 2023?

Several cloud trends are likely to continue in 2023:

1. Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud adoption: Organizations are increasingly using a combination of different cloud providers and on-premises infrastructure to gain the benefits of each platform and avoid vendor lock-in.
2. Edge computing: As the amount of data generated at the edge of networks increases, there will be a greater need for processing and analyzing data closer to where it is generated.
3. Containerization and Kubernetes: Containers and Kubernetes, a container orchestration system, are becoming increasingly popular for packaging, deploying, and scaling applications,
4. Serverless computing: As more companies look to reduce their infrastructure costs, serverless computing, which allows developers to build and run applications without the need to manage servers, is becoming increasingly popular.
5. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the cloud: AI and ML have many applications in various industries, and more and more data will be processed via the cloud to gain insights and build models.
6. 5G and IoT: With the roll-out of 5G networks and the increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, there will be a growing need for cloud-based solutions to process and analyze the large amounts of data generated by these devices.

These are only a few examples, many other trends will continue to shape the industry in the coming year, including security, regulations, and privacy.

Research shows that the cloud AI industry will be worth $13.1 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 20.3 percent from 2021 to 2026. Do you agree that AI adoption is a cloud must-have? What are your insights about the future of this symbiotic relationship?

It is widely believed that the cloud AI industry will experience significant growth in the coming years, and many experts agree that the market will be worth billions of dollars by 2026. The adoption of AI and machine learning technology is becoming increasingly popular across various industries, and many organizations are turning to cloud-based solutions to take advantage of the scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness that the cloud provides.

I do agree that AI adoption is becoming a must-have for companies in many industries, as it enables them to gain valuable insights and make better decisions. The cloud is an ideal platform for deploying and scaling AI applications, as it allows organizations to easily access the resources they need without the need to invest in expensive infrastructure.

The future of this symbiotic relationship looks very bright, as more and more businesses will adopt AI in the cloud to help them improve efficiency and innovate. With advancements in technologies such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision and machine learning, the opportunities in cloud AI are endless. Organizations that can effectively utilize AI and machine learning technology in the cloud will be well-positioned to gain a competitive advantage and drive growth.

Overall, the cloud and AI are closely linked, and the growth of one is helping to drive the growth of the other. As AI becomes more sophisticated and easier to use, we can expect to see even more businesses of all sizes leveraging the cloud to take advantage of its benefits.

Walk me through Avahi’s tech capabilities in helping companies build, modernize, manage, and optimize their cloud. How does it work?

Avahi offers a variety of services to help companies build, modernize, manage, and optimize their cloud infrastructure. Here's an overview of how it works:

1. Cloud strategy development: Avahi helps companies to develop a cloud strategy that aligns with their business goals and objectives. This includes assessing the company's current infrastructure, identifying the most suitable cloud platform(s) and services, and creating a roadmap for migration and implementation.
2. Cloud migration: Avahi assists companies in migrating their existing workloads and applications to the cloud. This includes planning, testing, and execution of the migration, as well as post-migration support and optimization.
3. Cloud infrastructure design and implementation: Avahi helps companies to design and implement a cloud infrastructure that meets their specific needs. This includes the selection and deployment of cloud-based services and technologies, as well as the integration of these services with the company's existing systems.
4. Cloud management and optimization: Avahi provides ongoing management and optimization of a company's cloud infrastructure. This includes monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance optimization, as well as security and compliance management.
5. Cloud governance and compliance: Avahi works with companies to ensure that their cloud infrastructure is configured to comply with relevant regulations and standards. This includes assessing and addressing security and data privacy concerns, as well as ensuring compliance with industry standards and best practices.
6. Cloud cost optimization: As cloud cost is one of the biggest concerns for many companies, Avahi helps to optimize the cost of the cloud infrastructure, identifying and eliminating unnecessary costs, and finding ways to optimize resource utilization.

Avahi typically works with companies to understand their unique requirements and provide tailored solutions. We provide expertise and guidance to help companies leverage the benefits of the cloud while minimizing the risks and costs associated with cloud adoption. We offer a combination of onsite and remote support and provide a variety of engagement models, such as project-based or ongoing support.

How does Avahi’s cloud-first strategy help businesses harness the cloud's power to increase productivity and drive competitive advantage and growth?

With a cloud-first strategy as an approach, Avahi helps companies prioritize the use of cloud-based solutions over traditional on-premises infrastructure when implementing new systems or services. By taking a cloud-first approach, businesses can harness the power of the cloud to increase productivity and drive competitive advantage and growth in several ways:

1. Scalability and flexibility: Cloud-based solutions can be easily scaled up or down to meet the changing needs of the business. This allows companies to quickly respond to changes in demand, such as seasonal spikes in traffic or sudden growth.
2. Cost-effectiveness: Cloud-based solutions can be more cost-effective than traditional on-premises infrastructure. They often do not require large capital investments and the costs are usually based on a pay-as-you-go model, so you only pay for what you use.
3. Agility and innovation: A cloud-first strategy allows companies to quickly adopt new technologies and services, such as AI and machine learning, and to experiment with new ideas and business models. This can lead to faster time-to-market and the ability to more quickly respond to changes in the market.
4. Remote working capabilities: The cloud enables companies to enable employees to work from anywhere with an internet connection, it also enables work continuity in case of crisis or natural disaster.
5. Improved security: Cloud providers invest heavily in security, compliance, and governance which small companies would not be able to afford.
6. Collaboration and automation: Cloud-based solutions make it easier for teams to collaborate and share information, which can lead to improved communication and productivity. Automation of repetitive tasks can also lead to improved efficiency and cost savings.

By taking a cloud-first approach, Avahi helps companies take advantage of the many benefits the cloud has to offer, such as scalability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and agility, which can help them to increase productivity and drive competitive advantage and growth.

One of Avahi’s key solutions is its capability to reduce the cost of running cloud infrastructure and optimize overall performance and resource utilization. Can you talk about how this is made possible?

There are several ways in which Avahi helps to reduce the cost of running cloud infrastructure and optimize overall performance and resource utilization:

1. Right-sizing: One of the main ways to reduce cloud costs is to ensure that the company's infrastructure is the right size for its needs. This means identifying and removing any resources that are not being used, such as underutilized virtual machines, and scaling resources up or down as needed.
2. Cost management and optimization: Cost management and optimization tools can be used to monitor and manage cloud costs, helping companies to identify areas where they can reduce costs, such as by shutting down resources that are no longer needed.
3. Automated scaling: Automated scaling allows resources to be scaled up or down based on usage patterns. For example, if a company sees an increase in traffic to its website, its cloud infrastructure can be automatically scaled up to handle the increased demand, and then scaled down again when traffic decreases.
4. Resource utilization: Monitoring the use of the resources and optimizing the usage accordingly, this can be made possible by identifying the unused or underused resources, and also finding ways to make better use of the resources that are already in place.
5. Cloud cost optimization services: Cloud optimization services are offered by consulting companies to analyze the current infrastructure and identify any inefficiencies or areas where cost savings can be made, they can provide actionable recommendations and implement changes to optimize the cost.
6. Cloud Governance: Effective governance can help companies to maintain control over their cloud infrastructure and ensure that resources are being used in the most efficient way possible. This includes enforcing policies and rules for resource allocation and usage, as well as monitoring usage to identify and address any issues that arise.

By implementing these strategies, Avahi can help to reduce the cost of running customers' cloud infrastructure and optimize overall performance and resource utilization, which can result in cost savings and improve the overall efficiency of the cloud infrastructure. It's worth mentioning that while it is possible to optimize the costs, it is important to make sure that the optimization process doesn't compromise the security or the performance of the services.

Avahi currently serves clients in a multitude of industries, from manufacturing to retail. What are some of the industries that you look forward to serving and you think would greatly benefit from cloud-first?

Cloud-first services and solutions can be beneficial in many industries, and with the increased adoption of the cloud, almost every industry could be a potential customer for cloud-first services.

Some industries that may benefit from cloud-first solutions include:

1. Healthcare: Secure storage and sharing of patient data, improved clinical workflows
2. Finance: Managing and analyzing large amounts of data, fraud detection, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
3. Retail: Inventory management, sales processing, and customer data analysis to improve marketing efforts.
4. Manufacturing: Supply chain management, production process monitoring, and improved collaboration in the value chain
5. Education: Data storage and sharing, improved educational workflows

It's worth noting that each industry has its specific requirements and challenges, so a cloud-first strategy should be tailored to the specific needs of each industry, which can be evaluated by Avahi.