Dive Brief:
- Hyundai is partnering with AWS to accelerate its cloud-first digital transformation, the companies announced Thursday during the Los Angeles Auto Show.
- As part of the broad strategic partnership, the third-largest carmaker will migrate on-premise applications to AWS. The goal is to optimize production, minimize security risks and enhance data operations.
- To ease the transformation, AWS and Hyundai designed cloud skills training and a certification program for Hyundai engineers, according to the announcement. Throughout the project, the automaker, in step with AWS, will train hundreds of engineers on cloud skills for specific workloads, a company spokesperson told CIO Dive.
Dive Insight:
Automakers have a lot to gain by advancing their digital capabilities and migrating to cloud, but tech talent shortages remain an impediment across industries.
To navigate around skill-related roadblocks, companies have turned to reskilling as a workforce strategy.
Mercedes-Benz offers employees opportunities to earn qualifications in cloud solutions architecture and other emerging areas. The automaker laid out plans in August to invest more than $2.2 billion by 2023 in data and AI specialist training for its employees.
Cloud skills gaps have serious implications, causing nearly one-third of businesses to miss financial objectives and delay digital transformation projects by as long as five months, according to a SoftwareOne survey of 500 IT decision-makers. Adding urgency to the situation, cloud-related threats are a top cyber concern for organizations.
Despite workforce challenges, businesses aren’t shying away.
“This is a transformational journey we are on together, and we look forward to a very productive long-term relationship with Amazon,” José Muñoz, global chief operating officer for Hyundai and president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America, said at the show Thursday, according to the announcement.
Hyundai isn’t the only carmaker pursuing digital transformation through cloud.
Ford entered a six-year deal with Google Cloud, selecting the hyperscaler as its preferred cloud vendor in 2021. The partnership enabled the automaker to double its number of AI-powered solutions and release five million software updates to its vehicles, the company announced last year.
Earlier this year, BMW sealed a migration partnership with AWS, and Mercedes-Benz turned to Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service to bring ChatGPT into its factories.
