2020 and beyond for AWS – a story of innovation and partner opportunity

Amazon Web Services (AWS) had a bumper year in 2019, increasing annual revenue run rate to $US40 billion – a significant jump from $US30 billion at the end of 2018.[1] It also holds close to double the total market share in the worldwide public Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) market, with 32.7 per cent, ahead of Microsoft Azure at 16.9 per cent.[2]

Looking ahead, this prominence in the market means channel organisations are almost certain to deliver or support AWS to their customers in some capacity, as more organisations look to the public cloud for the benefits that it returns to their business. Gartner’s prediction is that by 2022, 75 per cent of all databases will be in the Cloud, and Amazon holds a dominant position within that space.[3]

“We believe this begins with systems for data management solutions for analytics [DMSA] use cases — such as data warehousing, data lakes and other cases where data is used for analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML),” Gartner distinguished research vice-president, Donald Feinberg, said in a press release. “Increasingly, operational systems are also moving to the Cloud, especially with conversion to the SaaS application model.”

Helping organisations make the most of their investment into AWS is a major value-adding opportunity for the channel, but it’s also one that requires investment, as AWS is challenging technology to leverage to its utmost capabilities. The opportunity for the channel is two-fold: to help customers transition to AWS, and then capitalise on the opportunities cloud technology opens to them.

Keeping up with the rate of change within AWS is a prime opportunity for partners to become the value-adding, consultative expert that supports their client’s business. Being able to identify early trends and develop solutions that work within the cloud will help customers develop and retain competitive advantage in their sectors.

To help facilitate channel partners, AWS, in collaboration with Westcon-Comstor, offers a comprehensive channel partner program, the Amazon Partner Network (APN). Across three tiers – Select, Advanced, and Premier – partners can access resources and get assistance with onboarding with AWS. They can then get referrals, training, sales and technical support that will help them – and their customers – navigate complexities of migrating to the cloud.

AWS also runs events and summits to update partners on new innovations and solutions being brought to market. One such event – the AWS Partner Summit Sydney 2020 – is an exclusive, full day event scheduled for March 30, at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour.

“It is my team’s passion to help you drive the best customer outcomes possible,” Amazon Web Services head of partner & alliances, ANZ, Corrie Briscoe, said.[4] “Partnering is everybody’s responsibility at AWS.”

AWS Partner Summits are an opportunity to hear from AWS executive leaders and customers and to celebrate customer outcomes being delivered through the company. The events are designed to be informative for both technology and consulting partners. Sessions focus on both business and technical roles.

Last year’s event featured keynotes from Briscoe, and guest speaker Mark Iles, executive consultant and industry analyst, Tech Research Asia. Breakout sessions covered enablement, acceleration, and ISV/technical.

The AWS Partner Summit Sydney 2020 event enables partners to learn how to leverage AWS technologies to best serve their customers, and discover how the AWS Partner Network (APN) can help them build, market, and sell to grow their AWS-based business. Partners will also have the opportunity to connect with AWS leaders and field teams, and collaborate with other APN Partners. Partners who are unable to attend are encouraged to contact Westcon-Comstor. As a leading distributor for AWS services, Westcon’s team is well positioned to help partners from onboarding right through to technical support.

Contact the Westcon Partner Success Centre (PSC) - experts in recurring revenue and cloud

Australia

Phone: +61 2 8412 1212

Email: cloudsales.au@westcon.com

New Zealand

Phone: +64 9 477 7211 

Email: cloudsales.nz@westcon.com

[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/aws-brings-in-nearly-10b-in-sales-for-amazon-in-q4/

[2] https://infotechlead.com/cloud/aws-microsoft-google-alibaba-share-in-cloud-market-60638

[3] https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-07-01-gartner-says-the-future-of-the-database-market-is-the

[4] https://aws.amazon.com/events/summits/sydney/partner-summit/