iOCO has announced that it has achieved Advanced Services partner in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Partner Network (APN). iOCO is among the first South African Partners to obtain the AWS Advanced Services Status, which was achieved through the company’s proven success in providing quality AWS services and consulting to customers.
The APN is a global programme, designed to help APN Partners build successful AWS-based businesses or solutions by providing business, technical, marketing, and go-to-market support.
This accomplishment will enhance iOCO’s ability to provide comprehensive solutions to customers on AWS.
The rigorously scrutinised Advanced Services Partner status reflects iOCO’s significant investment in expanding its cloud operation, as well as its large accredited pool of AWS-certified cloud specialists. In addition, it highlights iOCO’s extensive track record of successful AWS deployments and migrations. “Advanced Services Partner status is awarded to partners who have the experience of helping numerous customers successfully achieve their goals in their AWS deployments. From standard deployments, to extensive migrations of specific workloads and environments, we have helped customers get the most out of their move to AWS,” says Richard Vester, Group Executive for iOCO’s Cloud division.
“The fact that iOCO is an AWS certified partner played a big role in our decision. I doubt we would have considered iOCO as a partner without AWS’s endorsement,” says Mitch, Director from iPay, one of South Africa’s biggest online payment gateways an iOCO AWS customer.
“iOCO designed and architected exactly what the AWS environment needed to be to meet our needs. They understood our requirements, and provided added value throughout the project. The AWS system does exactly what it was supposed to do, and has allowed up to operate on a true cloud platform with all the necessary scalability and elasticity we need,” adds Dominic Oettl from The Training Room Online (TTRO), another iOCO AWS customer.
Vester explains that iOCO puts the AWS Well-Architected Framework at the centre of all customer engagements. Based on five pillars — operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimisation — the Framework provides a consistent approach for iOCO and its customers to evaluate architectures, and implement designs that will scale over time.
“We excel in developing the best-fit cloud migration process, building cloud applications in accordance with modern business needs, and offering professional consultancy and comprehensive solutions in managing clients’ on-cloud and on-premises systems so as to allow a worry-free cloud transformation. This certification will further enhance our ability to bring the best of the AWS world to our customers,”
“Our new status is solid proof of iOCO’s commitment and dedication in leading our clients on an agile cloud transformation journey, backed up by our all-rounded system integration capability. We are delighted to reach this milestone, which further strengthens our position as the trusted cloud enabler of businesses. We thank AWS for closely supporting our AWS Partner Network journey and we are ready to offer a higher level of managed cloud services to our clients.”
He adds that with AWS’s announcement of a South African region launching in 2020, AWS customers can look forward to consuming innovative platform services within the Country at low latency, opening up a world of possibilities. “In today’s ubiquitous digital world, the biggest challenges organisations face related to the cloud journey are proximity, access to skills, security, and budgets. In addition, data sovereignty is becoming ever more important, and with AWS’s local presence has now made managing it that much easier. iOCO, together with AWS, ensures that clients access what they need, when they need it, with all the support they require.”