We live in a cloud computing world. When you post on social media, you’re using cloud computing. Checking your email or ordering items on Amazon? Again, you’re spending time in the Cloud. I happen to be sitting in the waiting room of my son’s doctor’s office; most patients—both young and old—are on their mobile devices using all kinds of apps. In short: cloud computing is THE new normal.
In non-tech speak, the “Cloud” is not a visible mass of minute water droplets floating in the wind across our skies. The “Cloud” is a buzzword which describes a virtual network of servers where you can store your data and the related services that run on the Internet, rather than physical servers at your location or your computer’s hard drive. When companies say their data is in the Cloud, they outsource their data storage or programs to a cloud service such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a replacement to using on-premises servers or a physically close network-type-of-storage.
Cloud computing has impacted our lives and is a big business. Gartner, Inc. says the worldwide public cloud services market will grow 18 percent in 2017 to a total of $246.8 billion. Gartner also confirms in their June 2017 report, that not surprisingly, AWS is the Cloud leader.
As IT Pros, we at 1Strategy know the multiple arguments in favor of moving to the Cloud, and specifically the benefits of AWS, like reducing the high costs of maintaining a data center and avoiding the large investments in equipment upgrades. The reasons for moving to AWS, especially when your bottom line and growth are positively affected, are straightforward. These benefits include the following: flexibility, elasticity, scalability, efficiency, real-time solutions and collaboration, disaster recovery, security, automatic software updates, and capital-expenditures-free, pay-as-you-go service, among other things.
Understanding that AWS is the Cloud you want to get to, how do you get there? Who do you call to help you get there? Who are the Superheroes of the Cloud who can safely fly you there and help you receive your bottom-line rewards when you get there?
A hero is honest, intelligent, selfless, and daring, willing to think outside the box, is defined by his or her actions, and above all possesses special skills and abilities that the general public doesn’t have. In this case, an AWS superhero is a company who possesses AWS expertise and provides strategic AWS solutions and best practices to their clients. Getting to the Cloud shouldn’t be a journey that you face alone.
Here are some guidelines to help you determine which AWS Superheroes you can rely on. AWS Superheroes:
- Are Technically Savvy: Not all cloud services are the same. Migrating to AWS is more than simply swapping out an on-premises storage to an outside service. Utilizing AWS is a whole new, better way of doing business. Your assistance should come from an AWS partner who has expertise in AWS and has the engineering proficiency and know-how to embrace it.
“When 1Strategy came, they validated their knowledge of the AWS ecosystem. If it weren’t for them it would have taken months of exploration before we could implement any solutions,” said James Thigpen, Web & Data Operations Manager at Rover.com.
“The success we had in working with 1Strategy is due to their valuable, expert knowledge they shared with us about AWS products and solutions and particularly, Mediarails’ requirements for reporting solutions as a multi-tenant SaaS platform,” said James Wing, Director of DevOps and Analytics at Mediarails. “Recognizing these requirements was the overwhelming force in our effective strategy in moving ahead in the AWS cloud.”
- Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk: In addition to having expert knowledge of AWS, a key factor requires that AWS solutions need to be communicated clearly and your AWS solutions and products need to be managed in order, providing leadership and direction. Excellent business communication and project management skills are required.
In describing the value-add 1Strategy brought to the table, James Lehnhoff, a Director of Cloud Engineering at Workfront stated, “1Strategy proved to be a very valuable partner and a cost-saving resource. They were able to engage with our internal teams, help us make initial architectural decisions, and launched us into AWS on-time and without issue.”
“All along the way, 1Strategy had a positive style of guiding and assisting our IT department that saved us time. They encouraged us to view the migration process through a new mindset—a cloud mindset—instead falling back to our colocation point of view,” said Paul Cooley, Chief Technology Officer at Imprev, Inc.
- Learn How to Fish and Then Teach Others to do the Same: With AWS cloud migrations, it’s critical to continually manage it effectively. Your IT teams should be educated and trained to become knowledgeable about AWS. Your AWS partner should create and deliver customized training tailored to focus on the AWS service you use.
“1Strategy knows AWS services inside and out as they focus exclusively on AWS,” said AWS Account Manager, Carly Wild. “What I like about 1Strategy is their philosophy to teach customers how to fish rather than holding the pole continuously for them. 1Strategy’s process is to partner with a client by training and teaching them how to leverage AWS correctly, which makes it efficient for the customer.”
“At inContact we decided to migrate from our private data center to a public cloud,” said Adam Horrocks, Architect at inContact. “1Strategy was instrumental in helping us, in not only deciding to go to Amazon Web Services, but also in providing custom training to get us up to speed in all the technologies so we could move and shift our data center and re-architect our platform. I recommend them highly to anyone who is looking for help to migrate into AWS.”
As an AWS Advance Consulting Partner, 1Strategy focuses exclusively on AWS, with experts having deployed AWS solutions since 2007. We specialize in helping customers architect and migrate workloads to AWS including Big Data, DevOps transformations, CI/CD, and automation. What sets us apart is that 1Strategy has established itself as a leader in consulting services, custom training, and support.
Dean Dierickx, Global Program Development Manager (Well Architected) at Amazon Web Services said, “1Strategy is an AWS expert and is leading the AWS Advanced Consulting Partner program driving the most reviews and remediation.”
Along with the new world of the Cloud, the use of AWS is on the rise and the multiple benefits are clear. Before you migrate to the AWS cloud and reap their benefits, ensure that your journey to AWS includes an AWS superhero, like 1Strategy who can help you fly there safely.
