Hitachi and Google Cloud collaborate to improve AI solutions for enterprises

Hitachi and Google Cloud announced a multi-year partnership to enhance enterprise innovation and productivity through generative artificial intelligence. Led by GlobalLogic, a digital engineering company and subsidiary of Hitachi, the two companies will establish the Hitachi Google Cloud business unit and the Google Cloud Center of Excellence (CoE). The goal of these new entities is to accelerate the adoption of Google Cloud technologies for new and existing enterprise customers.

Hitachi plans to leverage Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and Gemini models to address industry challenges, thereby improving business outcomes. The partnership will also serve to grow Hitachi’s Lumada, its core digital business, and increase operational efficiency across the Hitachi Group. Toshiaki Tokunaga, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Hitachi, emphasized that the collaboration will increase employee productivity and drive innovation by leveraging Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence capabilities.

A key goal of the partnership is the development of new GenAI solutions for software modernization and customer service. Hitachi intends to use Gemini models to help companies effectively modernize legacy software systems. Additionally, Google Cloud contact center artificial intelligence will be used to provide more effective and accurate customer service. For example, with Google Cloud Agent Assist, customer service representatives will receive real-time knowledge assistance and solution suggestions, improving productivity and service quality.

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

As part of their joint strategy, Hitachi and Google Cloud will combine their sales, marketing and engineering teams to provide customers with the resources they need to successfully implement and manage GenAI projects. This will include GenAI specialists trained by Hitachi in Google Cloud technologies. Nitesh Banga, general manager of Hitachi’s Digital Engineering business unit and president and CEO of GlobalLogic, said the alliance will strategically align their go-to-market approach to drive tangible results, increase efficiency and accelerate solution delivery.

Training and development are also key to the partnership. Hitachi has committed to training more than 50,000 GenAI specialists through its global training program, which currently includes modules on Google Cloud AI solutions and technologies. This initiative aims to provide large organizations with the expertise and managed services required to fundamentally improve their operations using artificial intelligence.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, noted that the partnership will provide customers with the advanced technology and expertise needed to successfully implement generative AI in their organizations. The collaboration aims to improve various industry sectors, including energy, mobility, manufacturing and digital services.

Hitachi and Google Cloud have a long history of cooperation spanning over 15 years. This new partnership aims to build on that foundation by leveraging the power of Google Cloud’s advanced artificial intelligence tools to improve business outcomes and employee productivity.