What We Learned at Google's Cloud Engage Partner Event

Last week, we had the opportunity to attend Google's Cloud Engage partner event in the Netherlands, a day packed with insights, case studies, and forward-thinking discussions around cloud technology and artificial intelligence. The event highlighted Google Cloud's growing commitment to the Dutch market and showcased how businesses of all sizes are leveraging Google's tools to drive innovation. Here's what we took away from this enlightening experience.

Google Cloud's Investment in the Netherlands and AI Landscape

The event kicked off with a compelling keynote by Joost (Country lead Benelux), who outlined Google Cloud's significant investments in the Netherlands. As the AI era accelerates, Google is positioning itself as a key player in the Dutch market, building infrastructure and partnerships to support businesses through digital transformation.

The keynote emphasized that we're still in the early adopter phase of AI, with the message that "the future of AI is happening now." The presentation tracked Google's AI development journey over the years, highlighting their current position and future direction. A particularly impressive statistic shared was that Google employs 3,000 AI researchers who have published over 7,000 papers—demonstrating their substantial commitment to advancing the field.

One of the standout visual elements at the Google Amsterdam office was a massive screen displaying real-time data from Google Trends, showing current global search patterns and topics gaining traction.

The Netherlands is clearly becoming a strategic focus for Google Cloud, with investments aimed at expanding data center capacity and fostering an ecosystem of innovation. This commitment signals strong growth opportunities for Dutch businesses and technology partners in the coming years.

Gemini & Google Workspace: Transforming Daily Work

The next sessions featured Nextnovate and their client Fastned, who shared how AI is reshaping everyday work processes. Jelmer Houdijk and Dylan van Orsouw from Fastned demonstrated how they're integrating Gemini and Google Workspace to enhance productivity and collaboration.

What stood out was how seamlessly these AI tools fit into existing workflows. Rather than requiring massive operational overhauls, Gemini is augmenting human capabilities in practical ways:

• Automating repetitive documentation tasks
• Providing real-time insights during collaborative meetings
• Simplifying complex data analysis for non-technical team members

The session emphasized that AI adoption doesn't need to be intimidating—even incremental implementations can yield significant productivity gains.

Data-Driven Healthcare: EW2Health's Success Story

A particularly inspiring case study came from EW2Health, presented by founder Renato Romani alongside Jeanne-Marie Gerber from Crystalloids. They showcased how Looker on Google Cloud Platform has revolutionized their healthcare data management.

For SMBs wondering about practical applications, this session delivered valuable takeaways:

• Real-time data integration from medical devices leading to faster, more informed decisions
• Simplified dashboard creation allowing non-technical healthcare staff to access critical insights
• Scalable solutions that grow with the organization without requiring massive upfront investments

This example demonstrated that sophisticated data solutions aren't just for enterprise organizations—they're increasingly accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Security in the Cloud Era

Hunt & Hackett's session on security offered crucial insights into the evolving threat landscape. Their implementation of Google Chronicle highlighted a shift from reactive to proactive security approaches.

Particularly noteworthy was their focus on monitoring Operational Technology (OT) environments and in-house applications—areas often overlooked in security strategies. Their intelligence-driven monitoring approach showed how businesses can:

• Enhance threat detection while reducing alert fatigue
• Create more comprehensive visibility across complex environments
• Respond more decisively to potential security incidents

The message was clear: as organizations migrate more operations to the cloud, security strategies must evolve accordingly.

AI in Action: Dutch Success Stories

The session on Dutch AI implementations showcased diverse uses across businesses. From traditional industries to digital natives and startups, the presentations illustrated AI's versatility and accessibility.

What resonated most was seeing Gemini and Google Cloud Platform deployed across such varied use cases:

• Traditional businesses using AI to optimize supply chains and inventory management
• Digital natives implementing AI-driven customer service enhancements
• Startups building entire business models around AI capabilities

These real-world examples demystified AI implementation, showing that organizations at any stage of their digital journey can find appropriate entry points.

The Future of AI Video: Google Veo2 in Action

The final session was a true highlight, featuring AlphaWave, a company founded by an ex-Google employee with over a decade of experience at the tech giant. AlphaWave is leveraging Google's Veo2 technology to generate remarkably realistic videos.

He showed an example for Adidas where they generated a product video from an image.

The demonstration showcased impressive examples of AI-generated video content, with particular advances in physics-based rendering. What stood out most was the realistic handling of shadows and natural-looking movements—areas where previous AI video generation had struggled. The quality of the outputs left many attendees visibly impressed.

Google Veo2 is still in early access right now, but we'll try to get our hands on it.

The AlphaWave founder also shared valuable insights into the challenges of quality control in AI-generated content and provided practical tips for maintaining standards as this technology becomes more widespread. This session offered a glimpse into what will likely become a transformative technology for content creation across industries.

Key Takeaways

After a day of insightful presentations and networking, several themes emerged:

• AI is becoming operational rather than experimental - The focus has shifted from theoretical possibilities to practical implementations with measurable results.
• Cloud technology is democratizing advanced capabilities - Tools once available only to large enterprises are now within reach for organizations of all sizes.
• Integration is key - The most successful implementations seamlessly connect with existing systems rather than requiring complete overhauls.
• Security remains paramount - As cloud adoption accelerates, proactive security approaches become increasingly critical.
• The Netherlands is becoming a cloud innovation hub - Google's investments signal growing opportunities for Dutch businesses and technology partners.

The Google Cloud Engage event reinforced that we're at an inflection point in cloud and AI adoption. The technologies are mature, the use cases are proven, and the barriers to entry continue to fall. For businesses still on the sidelines, now is the time to explore how these tools can drive meaningful transformation.

We left the event energized about the possibilities and equipped with practical insights to share with our clients. The future of cloud and AI in the Netherlands looks exceptionally bright, and we're excited to be part of this journey!