3 things to look out for when choosing the right AWS partner.

It is imperative to choose the right AWS partner to manage your cloud infrastructure, support you 24×7 and help you continuously optimise your applications on the cloud. Choosing a partner might sound easy, but most often this is a challenging experience.

It is a complex environment, so make sure you have the right partner with the right level of expertise, experience and specialisation (sector-specific) to handle migration, management, maintenance, support and optimisation of data, applications, websites and systems in the most cost effective way.

AWS has its very own support for its users but does not manage individual accounts as per its well established business model. In this blog we will touch upon the three main things to consider when choosing an AWS partner.

A quick word on AWS Partner Network

Partnership types are organised by paths. In total there are five partnership paths, namely: software path, hardware path, services path, training path and lastly distribution path. AWS thoroughly vets all the companies before adding them to their official list of partners. The AWS Partner Network serves a twofold purpose. It lists thousands of partners that provide consulting and technical support to businesses, in various sectors and industries that either want to move to the cloud or have already done so and need management or technical services. Secondly, the AWS partner directory, known as APN, also helps all the AWS ecosystem participants adopt, deploy and scale efficiently AWS solutions.

Find the perfect fit 

When looking for an AWS partner, find the perfect fit based on the industry, desired solutions and types of services and workloads required. Partners help in designing, building and implementing cloud migrations together with the running, operating and optimisation of existing environments. With the right partner you can go beyond the basics. A partner can analyse and gather requirements, propose solutions, put forward recommendations and bring to the table greater agility, and innovation. Explore different engagement models such as staff augmentation, outsourcing and partners working as an extension to in-house teams.

Check whether the partner is focused on the AWS platform. When a partner has a single-focus, it normally is aligned to the constant evolution of the AWS ecosystem, which is characterised by new tools and continual improvements. A partner needs to keep current with all the improvements, changes and roll-outs – to be able to manage your cloud presence in the best possible way.

Experience and Expertise 

A partner is as good as its people. Review the competencies, certifications and team members’ profiles. This will give a very good understanding of the level of expertise a partner has. Always ask for AWS-trained and certified professionals profiles to analyse the depth of knowledge the partner outfit has. Take a close look at the engineering team of the partner or potential partner. See which critical certifications are relevant to your requirements. Present certifications include all the following: developer, architect, SysOps administrator, solutions architect, and DevOps engineer.

Structure, Response Times (SLAs) and Chemistry between teams

Explore and understand the structure of a partner’s structure. The departments, the teams, the level of outsourcing (if any) and the responsiveness of a partner company are important attributes to look at. Cost optimisation, having peace of mind with a 24/7 DevOps support, having well defined service level agreements with fast response times and clarity in escalation paths are all key when choosing a partner for your AWS cloud environment management, maintenance and optimisation.

Experience in security and operational efficiency are also very important areas that one should consider when selecting an AWS partner. How readily available they are to get involved in cloud strategy and roadmap creation is important to get embedded in the organisation for the best interest of a seamless AWS cloud experience. Flexibility and the chemistry between both teams is paramount as a business relationship needs to be nurtured, to maximise the return on such an engagement.

When approaching a potential partner always ask the following questions:

• What are the identified business goals? (ex. Faster time to market, Cost cutting)
• Do these goals have a priority each? (It is important to communicate these to the selected partner)
• Do you presently have internal AWS expertise? (what level of expertise is it?)
• What type of engagement model are you after? (Wholly outsourced solution or in-part?)

Whether you are getting informed about lifting and shifting your applications to the AWS cloud or looking for a partner to take you to the next level of cloud services, 56Bit is your one-stop solutions partner. Look no further. Get in touch with us.

Choosing the right AWS partner requires careful consideration of their expertise and experience, methodology, and customer support. Look for a partner with a proven track record of successful projects, a structured approach to project management, and excellent customer support.