iOCO joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Well-Architected Partner Programme to gain the expertise needed to help AWS customers build solutions, implement best practices, audit workloads, and make improvements to their cloud environments at scale. The company is part of a select number of AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners in South Africa to have joined the programme.
iOCO has been an APN Partner since 2017, and has invested in its skills and offerings to better provide deep AWS knowledge and hands-on experience to its customers. The AWS Well-Architected Partner Programme trains APN Partners on how to perform AWS Well-Architected workload reviews. The programme is designed to enable APN Partners to help AWS customers establish good architectural habits, eliminate risk, and respond faster to changes that affect designs, applications, and workloads.
“These reviews not only help identify immediate cost savings, they help distinguish the best ways for companies to achieve the business outcomes they are looking for. The reviews essentially establish how modern infrastructure is going to give AWS customers an advantage in the marketplace, like a better customer experience, faster idea-to-cash, or scalability,” explains Richard Vester, Group Executive for iOCO’s Cloud division.
iOCO qualified for the AWS Well-Architected Partner Programme by investing in its AWS practice. In addition to providing training for dedicated Certified Solutions Architects, iOCO has integrated AWS Well-Architected Framework best practices into its operations.
“We are extremely proud to be part of the AWS Well-Architected Partner Programme and for continuing to invest in our AWS practice. In addition to constant training, we are continuously focusing on investing in the right skills to ensure we always have the expertise needed to build high quality solutions, implement best practices, and make improvements when and where AWS customers need assistance,” says Vester.
He adds that iOCO has already seen success with several customers that have used the company for a Well-Architected Review. “We assist customers to gain access to the latest AWS cloud innovations. Customers reap benefits such as cost savings along with improved performance, reliability and operations. Most importantly, we have been able to identify areas where customers can gain more rewards from their existing investments, helping them fine-tune their business goals.”
The AWS Well-Architected Framework has been developed to help cloud architects build secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure for their applications. Based on five pillars — operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization — the AWS Well-Architected Framework provides a consistent approach for customers and partners to evaluate architectures, and implement designs that will scale over time. iOCO uses this Framework in its reviews.
“With the additions of the Well-Architected Partner Programme to our AWS capabilities, we are continuing our growth of the iOCO AWS practice. We are looking forward to helping even more customers achieve the most out of AWS,” Vester concludes.