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GFT at AWS re:Invent 2024: In case you missed it

AWS re:Invent 2024 was a week full of connection, collaboration and industry-leading expertise. In case you missed it, from our Director of AWS Center of Excellence, Rafael Sugihara and Head of Marketing USA, Katherine Lee has the headlines and highlights for you.

January 22, 2025

Rafael Suguihara

Director, AWS Center of Excellence

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GFT was a bronze sponsor of AWS re:Invent Las Vegas once again this year, where we showcased our AI Impact at our booth for four days in early December.

As an AWS Premier Partner, with 12 badges, more than 1,500 AWS engineers and more than 800 certified professionals, we made sure to show up big. We were represented by 27 attendees from the US, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia and the UK.

At Booth #1758, we hosted interactive demos of our AI, cloud migration and digital transformation solutions, hosted one-on-ones with our AWS-certified experts and offered daily networking opportunities for all AWS re:Invent attendees.

Awards and Recognitions

Our AWS re:Invent attendance began on a high, with two 2024 Geography and Global AWS Partner Awards recognizing the role we play in helping customers drive innovation and build solutions on AWS. The Innovation Partner of the Year, Global award was for our work delivering consulting, managed and value-added resale services for customers—but we weren’t done.

We also won the Industry Partner of the Year - Financial Services, EMEA award for providing cloud-based offerings for banks, insurance companies, capital market firms and payment processors of all sizes in the EMEA region. Read more about the work we did to earn these recognitions here.

At the Booth and On the Floor

Our AWS re:Invent booth, AI Impact was a hit, with conversations about how AI can holistically support and improve the software development cycle. AI’s acceleration of tasks like documentation and testing—something uniquely valuable for legacy codes, which are often poorly documented—was a highlight, as was its ability to speed up the code review process by providing contextual information at relevant points.

Conversations and Collaborations

Our own global CTO, Dean Clark had a chance to sit down at our booth with Sam Everington, CEO of Engine, Starling Bank’s Software-as-a-Service arm, to talk about our recent collaboration on Salt Bank, a digital bank in Romania. They discussed how a number of innovations in the project opened up new possibilities, like achieving maximum composability thanks to being digital-first or staffing a human-based, customer service team due to smart automation. The conversation was a great opportunity to strengthen our partnership with Engine and Salt Bank while sharing the incredible Salt Bank story with AWS re:Invent attendees.

Marco Santos and Carlos Kazuo holding an award at the AWS Partner Awards Gala, standing in front of a branded backdrop celebrating AWS Partner achievements. — GFT honored at the AWS Partner Awards Gala, showcasing their excellence in driving innovation and delivering transformative cloud solutions in collaboration with AWS.

The GFT team posing in front of their booth at a technology event, featuring a banner highlighting services like Generative AI, Platform Modernization, and Visual Inspection. — The GFT team showcasing innovative solutions, including Generative AI and Platform Modernization, at their booth during a leading technology event, fostering collaboration and innovation.

Lunch and Learning

We weren’t there only to present and receive awards, however. GFT and AWS also co-hosted the re:Inventing Energy through Technology Innovations Luncheon where we heard from experts on technology innovations and AWS’s role in driving digital transformation across the energy sector. Speakers representing both oil and gas and renewable energy companies, as well as electricity, distribution and technology providers explained how cloud, data and AI are driving their transformation journeys.

Executives shared what their organizations are doing, like John Pressley, MD of Clean Energy Digital Strategy and Engineering, Duke Energy; Katy Dickson, SVP of Engineering & Technology for Patterson-UTI Drilling; John Kochavatr, CIO and VP of Customer and Digital Solutions for Portland General Electric; Ben Gordon, SVP, CIO and chief digital officer of Sempra Energy. GFT is also involved in energy, supporting customer initiatives in sustainable resources in oil and gas production, electrical transmission and distribution.

Networking and Connecting

After a week of learnings and insights, GFT hosted a client appreciation reception with AWS, where partners and clients connected, shared experiences and talked about their plans for the future. High attendance was anticipated, yet we were pleasantly surprised by everyone who came. Thanks to our global CEO, Marco Santos, Carlos Kazuo Missao, Tom Cozzolino, Rafael Suguihara and other leaders from GFT for stopping by, as well.

Wrapping Up and Looking Forward

Another year, another expectation-crushing conference in the books. We had an enriching and enlightening experience at AWS re:Invent 2024, and are already planning for AWS re:Invent 2025 in Las Vegas from December 1-5, 2025.

Click here to read more about our Salt Bank launch with Engine, find out more about the awards we won here and as always, find us on LinkedIn if you would like to know more about any of our projects.