Top 5 Qualities to look for in a Next-Gen AWS Managed Service Provider

AWS Managed Service Providers exist to help organizations migrate, run, and optimize workloads on AWS. Each organization that runs on AWS is unique in its own way and has specific business objectives when it comes to the cloud. Finding a strategic MSP that aligns your organization’s goals is key to unlocking the true benefits of AWS.

Below are 5 essential qualities to look for in an AWS MSP that will lift your business to the next level

1. AWS Managed Service Partner (MSP) Program Designation The AWS MSP Program was created for consulting partners who have shown Next-Generation capabilities in cloud infrastructure management, application migration processes, dedicated monitoring, and DevOps automation to their clients’ AWS environments. Partners who have achieved this status have been verified by a third party auditor, thus validating their technical and business capabilities as well as proven customer success.
2. Competencies AWS competencies are designed to highlight partners who have demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in specialized solution areas. Having one or more AWS competencies differentiates a partner by showcasing their expertise in a specific solution area or areas such as DevOps, Migration, IoT, and Security. In order to be considered for an AWS competency, a partner must meet specific program requirements listed by AWS, followed by a lengthy validation process. By choosing an MSP with a specific competency, you can be sure they have a strong overall AWS practice, proven customer success, and demonstrate technical readiness.
3. 24×7 Support You never know when an issue will occur, which is why having an MSP that offers 24×7 support is crucial for businesses that can not afford downtime. It’s essential to have an MSP that is available and ready to withstand unforeseen circumstances regarding your AWS environment. In-depth monitoring solutions, along with 24×7 incident management, helps to ensure high availability for anything hosted in the cloud. If there are any issues with your AWS environment, your MSP will be alerted immediately and can instantly respond and work towards resolution.
4. Next-Generation Capabilities Next-Generation cloud-native solutions, support, and management elevate the value an MSP can provide to their clients by understanding the difference between a technology trend and technology that will be supported well into the future. To be a true “Next-Gen” MSP means consistently delivering high-performance cloud solutions to help businesses thrive in this cloud computing era. Next-Gen MSPs for AWS go above and beyond the basics of managed services and raise the bar in areas including DevOps, automation, professional services, monitoring and support. Additionally, Next-Gen MSPs have the expertise around the proper use of AWS best practices in areas like security, performance, reliability, cost, and migration, while also taking advantages of new AWS services.
5. DevOps Focused DevOps-focused MSPs enable organizations to more rapidly and reliably build and deliver applications on AWS. As a result, these organizations are able to better serve their customers and compete more effectively in the market. Working with an MSP that provides a full range of DevOps development services will simplify provisioning and managing infrastructure, deploying application code, automating software release processes, and monitoring your application and infrastructure performance. DevOps-focused MSPs are more capable of effectively meeting your provisioning and automation needs on AWS.

Checking off these boxes will not only speed up your AWS MSP search process, but will also ensure that you’re getting a top tier partner that’s been validated by AWS and third-party auditors.