Latest news with #enterpriseAI
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Alibaba leads US$14 million funding round in Chinese corporate AI agent start-up
A Hangzhou-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up specialising in enterprise AI agents has secured over 100 million yuan (US$14 million) from investors led by Alibaba Group Holding 's cloud unit, as Chinese companies strive to leverage the technology to raise business efficiency. BetterYeah AI, a prominent player in China's enterprise AI sector founded by former Alibaba executives, said on Wednesday it had completed its latest financing round with contributions from Alibaba Cloud and venture firms Maintrend Capital and Foresight Capital. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. It marked the 'largest single investment deal' in the AI agent market, the start-up said. AI agents are programs that are capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system. Essentially, these agents create a plan of specific tasks and subtasks to complete a goal using available resources. SHENZHEN, CHINA - AUGUST 08, 2019: Alibaba Group sign statue says I love Taobao. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese e-commerce company founded in 1999 by Jack Ma. It serves worldwide. Photo: Shutterstock Images These AI applications are increasingly seen as the future of business automation. While many start-ups focus on consumer AI agents, BetterYeah AI develops enterprise AI agents that help streamline office operations and management, such as in online client services.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Year-old European startup Maisa named alongside Google and Amazon in elite list of leading AI agent vendors in top global US research reports by Gartner
SAN FRANCISCO & VALENCIA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 2, 2025-- Maisa, a rising star of enterprise AI, has been named by leading global research and advisory firm Gartner in its list of leading vendors for developing reliable AI agents. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Maisa founders David Villalón and Manuel Romero Inclusion in Gartner's 2025 Hype Cycle for AI and Hype Cycle for the Future of Work marks the first time a Spanish startup has been mentioned in these influential reports. The company, which is barely a year old and made its first raise of $5m+ from leading US investors last year, now finds itself named alongside global giants Amazon Web Services, Google, Salesforce and LangChain. The Gartner Hype Cycle for AI Agents provides an overview of emerging technologies in AI, helping organizations navigate the evolving landscape of autonomous software agents. The Hype Cycle for the Future of Work provides CIOs with a crucial human-first lens on the transformative AI advancements and disciplines required to ensure success at scale. Maisa is one of two European businesses included in its field in the prestigious report. Its technology allows businesses to use agentic AI to create 'digital workers' who can undertake complex process automation tasks such as regulatory compliance, supply chain control and financial management. It has global clients in banking, automotive and energy. Maisa is unique in the field because its technology is hallucination-resistant. Its workings are traceable and there is a fully auditable trail - what Maisa calls its 'Chain of Work' - meaning businesses can confidently deploy it in critical functions, knowing they can pinpoint exactly how the AI is functioning. Maisa's CEO and cofounder David Villalón: 'We are delighted to be the first Spanish company included by Gartner in its reports and one of only two European companies in the category of AI agents. 'We are especially pleased to be listed alongside global tech titans such as Google and Amazon. 'Our vision and achievements in empowering companies with autonomous, trustworthy AI agents drive real business value and set new standards for intelligent automation.' The Gartner analysis highlights AI agents as rapidly maturing technology with a rare 'high benefit' rating, but points out that there is only a 5% - 20% market penetration to date, implying huge market growth potential. AI agents - defined as autonomous or semi-autonomous software entities capable of perceiving, deciding and acting to achieve goals - are set to revolutionise industries by automating complex tasks, enhancing decision-making and enabling new levels of workflow integration. About Maisa: A Rising Star in Agentic AI Its platform allows enterprises to create and manage AI-powered digital workers capable of automating complex, knowledge-intensive business processes with full transparency, traceability and reliability. It is simple to operate, fast to work and trustworthy. Maisa is enabled by a method the company calls 'HALP' (human-augmented LLM processing), which is a fast, no code and enterprise ready way to train digital workers. Instead of relying on massive datasets or manual programming, HALP enables digital workers to learn directly from real work inside organisations. View source version on CONTACT: [email protected] +44 7595048136 KEYWORD: EUROPE SPAIN UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE INTERNET HARDWARE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ROBOTICS DATA MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY OTHER TECHNOLOGY SOURCE: Maisa Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 07/02/2025 07:01 PM/DISC: 07/02/2025 07:01 PM
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
HCLTech and OpenAI Collaborate to Drive Enterprise-Scale AI Adoption
NEW YORK & NOIDA, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 30, 2025-- HCLTech, a leading global technology company, today announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with OpenAI, a leading AI research and deployment company, to drive large-scale enterprise AI transformation as one of the first strategic services partners to OpenAI. HCLTech's deep industry knowledge and AI Engineering expertise lay the foundation for scalable AI innovation with OpenAI. This collaboration will enable HCLTech's clients to leverage OpenAI's industry-leading AI products portfolio alongside HCLTech's foundational and applied AI offerings for rapid and scaled GenAI deployment. Additionally, HCLTech will embed OpenAI's industry-leading models and solutions across its industry-focused offerings, capabilities and proprietary platforms, including AI Force, AI Foundry, AI Engineering and industry-specific AI accelerators. This deep integration will help its clients modernize business processes, enhance customer and employee experiences and unlock growth opportunities, covering the full AI lifecycle, from AI readiness assessments and integration to enterprise-scale adoption, governance and change management. HCLTech will roll out ChatGPT Enterprise and OpenAI APIs internally, empowering its employees with secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools. Vijay Guntur, Global Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Head of Ecosystems at HCLTech, said, 'We are honored to work with OpenAI, the global leader in generative AI foundation models. This collaboration underscores our commitment to empowering Global 2000 enterprises with transformative AI solutions. It reaffirms HCLTech's robust engineering heritage and aligns with OpenAI's spirit of innovation. Together, we are driving a new era of AI-powered transformation across our offerings and operations at a global scale.' Giancarlo 'GC' Lionetti, Chief Commercial Officer at OpenAI, said, 'HCLTech's deep industry knowledge and AI engineering expertise sets the stage for scalable AI innovation. As one of the first system integration companies to integrate OpenAI to improve efficiency and enhance customer experiences, they're accelerating productivity and setting a new standard for how industries can transform using generative AI.' About HCLTech HCLTech is a global technology company, home to more than 223,000 people across 60 countries, delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering, cloud and AI, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. We work with clients across all major verticals, providing industry solutions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, High Tech, Semiconductor, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG and Public Services. Consolidated revenues as of 12 months ending March 2025 totaled $13.8 billion. To learn how we can supercharge progress for you, visit View source version on CONTACT: For more information, please contact:Meredith Bucaro, Americas [email protected] Ghudial, EMEA [email protected] Galvin, APAC [email protected] Shukla, India [email protected] KEYWORD: AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA IRELAND AUSTRALIA SOUTHEAST ASIA NORTH AMERICA UNITED STATES SINGAPORE ASIA PACIFIC UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE INDIA NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INTERNET DATA MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SOFTWARE SOURCE: HCLTech Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 06/30/2025 07:03 AM/DISC: 06/30/2025 07:03 AM
Forbes
27-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Impact Of Data Infrastructure On Global AI Leadership
NetApp NetApp recently released findings from its 2025 AI Space Race report, a global research initiative designed to benchmark AI readiness across executive leadership and IT teams. The dataset comprises feedback from 800 executives, evenly split between CEOs and IT leaders, from the United States, United Kingdom, China, and India. The research captures a pivotal moment in the adoption of enterprise AI. With generative AI deployments accelerating within the enterprise, the gap between aspiration and execution is becoming increasingly consequential. NetApp's report sheds light on where organizations stand, where internal misalignments persist, and what infrastructure foundations matter most as enterprises transition from pilot projects to production AI systems. The AI Business Imperative A central insight from the survey is that AI success hinges less on vision and more on operational readiness. Across geographies, most organizations, 88%, report themselves as 'mostly or fully ready' for AI, with 81% piloting or scaling AI initiatives. Despite this apparent momentum, the research identified critical gaps between CEO expectations and IT capabilities that threaten to derail these efforts. The study indicates that many organizations lack deep investments in foundational infrastructure, such as secure, scalable data platforms. This can undermine their ability to scale from proof-of-concept to full production deployments effectively. The Global Competitive Landscape When executives were asked which region will lead AI innovation over the next five years, 43% pointed to the United States as the likely winner. Nearly two-thirds of American respondents backed their own country, while Chinese executives showed a similar home-country bias, suggesting that these perceptions may be influenced by nationalistic confidence. Unsurprisingly, China emerges as America's primary challenger for AI dominance, with 43% of Chinese respondents predicting their nation will lead in AI development. This confidence stems from massive infrastructure investments and aggressive scaling strategies. However, the report reveals a critical weakness in China's approach: a dangerous misalignment between CEO ambitions and IT execution capabilities. Even here, a readiness gap exists. While 92% of Chinese CEOs claim their companies have active AI projects, only 74% of their IT leaders agree. This 18-point gap suggests Chinese executives are overcounting their AI progress, creating unrealistic expectations that will limit long-term competitiveness. By contrast, American companies exhibit a much stronger alignment, with CEO and IT assessments matching closely at 77% and 86%, respectively. India and the United Kingdom acknowledge their underdog status, with nearly one-third of executives in both countries reporting additional pressure to compete against the perceived leaders of the United States and China. This recognition drives focused investment strategies that position these markets as potential disruptors in specific AI verticals. The Impact of Data Infrastructure NetApp's research identifies the adoption of an intelligent data infrastructure as a decisive factor separating AI leaders from AI followers. Enterprises need data systems that are accessible, secure, and scalable to generate trusted outcomes from their AI investments. Without this foundation, even the most ambitious AI strategies can fail to deliver results. That's not to say that there's only one correct approach. The report indicates that the deployment of AI infrastructure frequently follows divergent competitive philosophies across various regions. Chinese respondents, for example, prioritize scalability above all else, with 35% ranking it as their top capability, compared to just 24% globally. This reflects a sprint strategy focused on immediate market impact. American, British, and Indian companies, on the other hand, take a different approach, emphasizing integration with existing systems to build sustainable long-term advantages. These strategic differences have real consequences. The survey found that 79% of executives fear their AI initiatives will produce broken models and biased insights due to poor data foundations. Companies that shortcut infrastructure development to accelerate AI deployment often discover their rushed approach creates more problems than solutions. The Data Infrastructure Arms Race The AI infrastructure market is a battlefield where no established technology supplier can afford to fall behind. NetApp chief marketing officer Gabie Boko told me that it's precisely for this reason that NetApp commissions surveys like this one. It's one of the ways it understands the challenges its customers face. NetApp approaches this market with its Intelligent Data Infrastructure, which enables scalable, secure, and operationally efficient AI and data-driven workloads. Unlike legacy storage architectures or ad hoc cloud deployments, NetApp integrates data management, governance, and observability directly into its hybrid cloud platform. The NetApp Intelligent Data Infrastructure supports AI-native patterns, like model training, fine-tuning, and inference, by providing consistent performance, global data access, and real-time visibility across edge, core, and cloud environments. NetApp's approach emphasizes integration over layered complexity across the full spectrum of enterprise data needs, not just AI. It's a strong play. NetApp isn't alone in this market. Dell Technologies, for example, offers its Dell AI Data Platform to support its Dell AI Factory offerings. Dell's solution combines its broad portfolio of storage solutions with Nvidia's AI Data Platform to address enterprise AI challenges. HPE and Pure Storage each take similar, if less opinionated, approaches. Beyond the traditional storage landscape, disruptors like VAST Data and WEKA are also players, taking a more targeted approach to addressing the problem. Innovations like its Augmented Memory Grid and the recently announced NeuralMesh microservices architecture give WEKA a compelling play for reliable, performant, and operational efficient AI infrastructure at scale. WEKA's is an AI-first solution, lacking some of the broader enterprise-focused capabilities found in general-purpose mainstream storage. VAST Data takes things even further, packaging several AI tools together into an opinionated hyper-converged AI stack that it calls the VAST AI OS. This HCAI approach makes VAST less of a direct competitor to the rest of the storage market and more of a competitor to full-stack AI solutions. It should be evaluated as such. The competitive intensity in this market illustrates a broader market reality and reinforces NetApp's findings: AI infrastructure is a critical battleground for long-term customer relationships. Companies that lose this race risk becoming irrelevant as AI becomes central to business operations. Analyst's Take: The Road Ahead NetApp's findings convey a clear message: successful AI implementation requires more than just cutting-edge technology. Organizations must achieve perfect alignment between executive vision and operational execution while building scalable infrastructure foundations. Companies that master this combination will establish lasting competitive advantages. The global nature of AI competition also has an impact, creating complex challenges for multinational organizations. Companies operating across regions must navigate different regulatory environments, talent markets, and customer expectations while maintaining consistent AI capabilities. Success requires adapting strategies to local conditions while preserving global coherence. The report says that 'one of the most significant success factors in the AI Space Race will be data infrastructure and data management, supported by cloud solutions that are agile, secure, and scalable. Successful organizations need an intelligent data infrastructure in place to ensure unfettered AI innovation." It's hard to disagree with that. NetApp's AI Space Race study reinforces its position in the enterprise data infrastructure market. By framing the readiness conversation around organizational alignment and data strategy, NetApp shifts the focus from compute horsepower to the broader challenge of holistically managing the enterprise data lifecycle. It's an approach aligned with current trends across the AI infrastructure ecosystem, where storage, observability, and data orchestration increasingly dictate scalability. NetApp's emphasis on full-stack integration, particularly within multi-cloud environments, differentiates it from infrastructure players that focus purely on on-premises or hyperscaler-native AI stacks. It's a compelling story. Disclosure: Steve McDowell is an industry analyst, and NAND Research is an industry analyst firm, that engages in, or has engaged in, research, analysis and advisory services with many technology companies, including those named in this article: Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetApp, NVIDIA, Pure Storage, VAST Data, and WEKA. No company mentioned was involved in the writing of this article. Mr. McDowell does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned.
Associated Press
26-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Thinkstack Brings Contextual, Compliant, Custom AI Agents to the Enterprise
Bespoke AI agents built on your data, your systems, and your terms, without in-house complexity. 'Generic chatbots can answer questions. Our AI agents close loops. AI Automation should feel like your ops team just got sharper overnight, not like another tool to babysit.'— Rajesh Bhattacharjee, CEO & Co-founder, Thinkstack NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, June 26, 2025 / / -- Enterprises are tired of AI platforms that automate the easy parts and ignore the hard ones. While most chatbot tools deliver replies, few are built to automate real operational workflows. Thinkstack, a global leader in AI-native automation, is offering a new path forward; purpose-built AI agents that do the heavy lifting. Thinkstack has announced the launch of its enterprise agentic AI framework, a secure, multilingual, and integration-ready system to deploy custom AI agents; automation that fits like a glove with real business workflows. These agents don't come from a template. Unlike traditional automation or one-size-fits-all copilots, Thinkstack agents are built from the ground up to: - Plug into your internal systems - Understand your business logic - Execute actions with full operational context The framework supports integration with thousands of tools, enabling faster time-to-value with no rip-and-replace requirement. From autonomous ticket triage to multilingual HR assistants, Thinkstack's agents are designed to think, act, and operate across complex systems, including CRMs, ERPs, support desks, internal databases, and even legacy apps. Powered by an agile architecture that's SOC2 and GDPR compliant, the framework allows fast deployment of fully custom agents within weeks. Teams can now integrate structured and unstructured data and orchestrate outcomes in real time. Additionally, Thinkstack is also built for regional adaptability, including full readiness for the MENA market. With right-to-left language support, regional workflow compatibility, and data localization needs, companies in the region can deploy Arabic AI chatbots tailored to local operations and systems. Thinkstack isn't chasing vanity demos. With businesses stuck between building solutions in-house or settling for rigid automation, Thinkstack offers a smarter third option and positions itself as the architecture layer for AI-driven action. Whether you're scaling operations or modernizing legacy workflows, the next stage of enterprise automation is here, and it's custom-built. Learn more or request a hands-on preview at About Thinkstack Thinkstack is a next-generation enterprise AI platform enabling businesses to deploy agentic workflows without writing code. Its secure, modular, and integration-first architecture helps businesses automate mission-critical tasks across departments—without compromising control, compliance, or context. Team Thinkstack Thinkstack +91 93801 69331 email us here Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
