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A report commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS) has claimed partners that go hard on training and certifications from the cloud giant can tap into more benefits for their business than they realise, allegedly including higher average gross margins.
The report, which was based off a survey conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group, asked 761 partners around the globe, with 41 per cent of these businesses based in Asia Pacific, about what they perceived the benefits of AWS training and certification to be.
The report claimed partners that had a high adoption of AWS training -- which it defined as when the majority of “AWS-focused” staff have had participated in AWS training -- reported a 34 per cent increase in average gross margins in their AWS practice.
Meanwhile, those with a low adoption -- when a minority of staff have participated in AWS training -- are estimated to see a 24 per cent increase.
Part of this may be due to the perception of the partner's AWS standing by customers, as the report found more than 80 per cent of AWS partners’ customers care that staff have been AWS certified.
AWS training and certifications are also believed to assist with recruiting and retaining talent, with 58 per cent of partners saying AWS training led to improved employee retention and 52 per cent saw an improvement in recruitment.
Additionally, 65 per cent of businesses that invested in AWS certification exam fees saw improvements in employee retention and 59 per cent saw improvements in recruitment.
By ensuring staff are trained by AWS, the report added that over three-quarters of the partners said they saw an improvement in their employee’s ability to communicate the benefits of AWS solutions to customers after completing training.
This report comes amid a skills shortage, according to AWS’ director of partner training Mark Daigle.
“Managers expecting to hire their way out of skills problems face a shallow candidate pool,” he said. “As the skills gap intensifies, so does the workload, giving skilled talent an additional reason to leave for opportunities that foster their development and growth.
“Business leaders can disrupt this cycle by investing in learning and development for their teams,” he added.
AWS' report into the partner perception of its certification and training comes as it pulls ahead in the global cloud market, with its market share inching back up to 33 per cent as of August.
