Four Key Takeaways for Canadian Organizations from Google Cloud Next ‘25

Google Cloud Next ‘25 recently wrapped up, and it was an inspiring event filled with groundbreaking announcements, innovative solutions, and insightful discussions. For Canadian organizations navigating the complexities of today's digital landscape, Next ‘25 offered a clear vision for the future—one powered by cutting-edge AI, robust infrastructure, and collaborative ecosystems.

As the country managing director for Google Cloud Canada, I had the privilege of connecting with many Canadian businesses and public sector leaders at the event, and was truly energized by their visions and ambition to innovate and serve Canadians better.

Reflecting on the keynotes, sessions, and conversations, I want to share four critical takeaways that I believe hold significant value and opportunity for organizations across Canada:

1. Unleashing the Power of Gemini 2.5 and Google DeepMind for Cloud Customers

AI was undeniably the central theme of Next ‘25, and the integration of the best of Google DeepMind into Google Cloud was a highlight. We're bringing cutting-edge advancements, including the highly anticipated Gemini 2.5 models, directly to our cloud customers. Gemini 2.5 models stand out by winning across the board on capabilities and performance, offering unprecedented power for understanding and generating content across various modalities.

Beyond Gemini, we have an incredible suite of generative media models that are driving new levels of efficiency, creativity, and customer engagement. In fact, we are the only company to offer models across all modalities—including images, voice, music, and video—all of which are available today on Vertex AI, including groundbreaking advancements to Imagen 3, Chirp 3, Lyria, and Veo 2 models.

For Canadian organizations, this means access to AI models that can drive deeper insights, automate complex tasks, and create richer, more engaging customer experiences. Imagine using Gemini 2.5's advanced reasoning and multimodal understanding to analyze complex datasets, generate highly accurate reports, or even create personalized customer interactions. Moreover, the availability of advanced generative media models like Imagen 3 for high-quality image generation and Lyria for expressive music creation, all on Vertex AI, opens up new avenues for Canadian businesses in media, marketing, and beyond to enhance creativity and customer engagement.

This level of AI power, now readily available on Google Cloud, empowers Canadian businesses to innovate faster and more effectively than ever before.

2. The Adoption of AI Agents: Boosting Productivity for Canadian Businesses

Productivity is top of mind for businesses across Canada, and the rise of AI agents presents a significant opportunity to address this. Agents are intelligent systems that exhibit reasoning, planning, and memory capabilities. They are capable of thinking multiple steps ahead and working seamlessly across software and systems, all to accomplish tasks on your behalf and under your supervision. Agents are poised to play an increasingly vital role in the workforce, collaborating with employees to drive efficiencies, enhance decision-making, and accelerate innovation.

At Next ‘25, we emphasized how these specialized AI systems can drive efficiency and unlock new levels of automation.

Our new Agent Development Kit (ADK), an open-source framework that simplifies the process of building sophisticated multi-agent systems, is particularly exciting for the vibrant Canadian startup ecosystem. With ADK, companies can build an AI agent in under 100 lines of intuitive code. Companies can also rapidly prototype, iterate, and deploy intelligent solutions, leading to more innovative products and services with fewer resources.

Another important announcement is Live API for Gemini models, which will help improve how agents interact with customers. By offering streaming audio and video directly into Gemini, agents can now process and respond to rich media in real time.

Imagine having a personal assistant who can help your customers perform simple tasks like filling out forms—or more complicated functions like performing a banking transaction—all with increased accuracy and improved customer satisfaction. This opens up exciting possibilities for truly conversational interactions and the creation of immersive, multimodal applications for Canadian businesses across various sectors.

3. Delivering Exceptional Customer Service at Scale with the Customer Engagement Suite

Providing excellent customer service is crucial for businesses of all sizes. We introduced new offerings designed to help organizations achieve this at scale, most notably with the next-generation of our Customer Engagement Suite, which allows customers to connect with your business across any channel—such as web, mobile, email, or voice—offering a consistent, personalized experience wherever you connect.

Our recently announced updates include human-like, high-definition voices; the ability to understand emotions so agents can adapt better during conversations; streaming video support so virtual agents can interpret and respond to what they see in real-time through customer devices; and AI assistance to build custom agents in a no-code interface.

For Canadian businesses, this means the ability to build more responsive, intelligent, and satisfying customer experiences. Whether it's using AI-powered chatbots for instant support, providing agents with real-time insights to resolve issues faster, or personalizing customer journeys based on data-driven insights, the Customer Engagement Suite empowers Canadian organizations to build stronger customer relationships and drive loyalty.

4. Enhanced Data Sovereignty Solutions for Canadian Organizations

Building on our existing sovereignty offerings, we announced that Gemini will be available on Google Distributed Cloud (GDC), with public preview starting in Q3 2025. This will bring Google’s most capable AI models to on-premises environments, and is a significant step forward for organizations with stringent data residency, compliance, and sovereignty requirements.

For Canadian organizations, the availability of Gemini on GDC will provide an additional layer of control and flexibility, while simultaneously harnessing the power of Google's advanced AI capabilities, such as multimodal understanding and advanced reasoning, within their own infrastructure. This means that sensitive data can remain on-premises, addressing concerns around data residency and regulatory compliance, which are often critical for sectors like healthcare, finance, and the public sector.

GDC is a fully managed on-prem and edge cloud solution, offered in both connected and air-gapped options, scaling from a single server to hundreds of racks. Google manages the underlying infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on building innovative AI-powered applications, assistants, and agents using Gemini, without the operational burden of managing complex AI hardware and software stacks.

This offering underscores our commitment to meeting the unique needs of Canadian organizations and empowering them to innovate with confidence in the cloud, knowing their data sovereignty requirements are met.

Looking Ahead for Canada

The innovations unveiled at Next ‘25 paint an exciting picture for the future of Canadian organizations. From the transformative power of Gemini 2.5 and the agility offered by AI agents, to the ability to deliver exceptional customer experiences at scale and ensuring peace of mind provided by our enhanced data sovereignty solutions, the opportunities to innovate, grow, and better serve Canadians are immense.

Google Cloud is deeply invested in Canada's success, and we are eager to partner with businesses and public sector entities across the nation to turn these possibilities into realities. Let's build the next chapter of Canadian innovation together.