AWS: Wanna join our MSP club? The bar is high, says UK boss

'NOT a matter of rocking up, paying some cash and getting a badge'

Managed Services Providers - still the most sought after of all channel partners types - can now jump through some hoops to scoop a badge of certification from Amazon Web Services.

The infrastructure services firm is formalising relations with MSPs via an extension to it’s programme in a bid to sort the wheat from the chaff.

“Customers are saying ‘we want more MSPs’ and want to understand what they are capable of so we and partners put a lot of investment into certification,” said Iain Gavin, UK managing director of AWS.

He said the process is fairly intensive, “these are not ‘I rock up, pay some money and get a badge, these are proctored exams with third party houses to certify them”.

So rigorous is the accreditation, AWS tells, that it runs a prep course for the certification before the training begins in earnest. MSPs need different numbers of sales staff and techies to qualify for different tiers.

But as importantly, AWS requires “real world” customer references, and Gavin said it asses the way an individual at an MSP approached a problem.

“They’ve got to do the assessment of the applications, audit, manage, monitor, understand the response mechanisms when a situation arises… what do you do, what is the process, the escalation,” he added. ®