New Validation Checklists Clarify AWS Competency Requirements for APN Technology Partners

By Chris Alvarez, Sr. Partner Program Manager at AWS

The AWS Competency Program highlights top AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners that have demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in specialized solution areas.

To receive the AWS Competency designation, APN Partners must undergo rigorous technical validation related to industry-specific technology, as well as an assessment of the security, performance, and reliability of their Amazon Web Services (AWS) solutions.

This validation gives customers complete confidence in choosing APN Partners to team up with.

To help APN Technology Partners better understand this process and our validation requirements, we are releasing new versions of the AWS Competency Validation Checklists.

The checklists highlighted in this post are specific to APN Technology Partners. If you’re an APN Consulting Partner, please see this blog post for your validation checklists.

What’s in the Checklists for APN Technology Partners?

These checklists outline for APN Technology Partners the customer case study and technical criteria needed to achieve the AWS Competency designation.

We have revised the requirements for some of our checklists around the pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework. For other solutions, we are identifying key characteristics of standout AWS solutions and building validation requirements around those elements.

Additional updates include:

• Restructured Technical Requirement Categories: Requirements are now categorized under the 5 Pillars of Well-Architected. This provides transparency of our required AWS technical best practices.
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• Partner Self-Assessment: In alignment with the AWS Managed Service Provider (MSP) Partner Program, we will request a Partner self-assessment to be completed before your application is fully accepted. This helps us verify that APN Partners have read and will meet the Competency requirements.
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• Clearer Prerequisites: Validation Checklists include more detailed information about Competency program prerequisites, such as what qualifies for an Microsoft Workloads project on AWS.

Grace Period for AWS Technology Validation Checklists

The AWS Competency program will honor a 60-day grace period from the time each new Validation Checklist is published. During this period, APN Partners can be validated against the previous checklist version, if applicable.

After the 60-day grace period, APN Partners will be validated against the most recent checklist version found on the AWS Competency program page.

NEW! AWS Data & Analytics Competency Checklist

AWS Data & Analytics Competency Partners have demonstrated success helping customers evaluate and use the tools, techniques, and technologies of working with data productively, at any scale.

View the AWS Data & Analytics Competency Checklist >> (released Sept. 30, 2019)

NEW! AWS Industrial Software Competency Checklist

AWS Industrial Software Competency Partners provide solutions targeting one or more of the primary steps in discrete manufacturing or process industries: Product Design, Production Design, Productions/Operations.

View the AWS Industrial Software Competency Checklist >> (released Sept. 23, 2019)

AWS Cloud Management Tools Competency Checklist

AWS Cloud Management Tools (CMT) Competency Partners help customers identify solutions that enable their cloud strategy by delivering operations and governance best practices.

View the AWS CMT Checklist >> (released Sept. 10, 2019)

AWS Digital Customer Experience Competency Checklist

AWS Digital Customer Experience Competency Partners have demonstrated technical capabilities and success in all phases of the digital customer acquisition and retention lifecycle.

View the AWS Digital Customer Experience Checklist >> (released Sept. 3, 2019)

AWS Migration Competency Checklist

AWS Migration Competency Partners provide solutions or have deep experience helping businesses move successfully to AWS, through all phases of complex migration projects, discovery, planning, migration and operations.

View the AWS Migration Competency Checklist >> (released July 31, 2019)

AWS Networking Competency Checklist

AWS Networking Competency Partners have validated technical capabilities and demonstrated success in helping customers adopt, develop, and deploy applications on AWS.

View the AWS Networking Competency Checklist >> (released May 15, 2019)

AWS Security Competency Checklist

AWS Security Competency Partners have demonstrated success in building products and solutions on AWS to support customers in multiple areas, including infrastructure security, policy management, identity management, security monitoring, vulnerability management, and data protection.

View the AWS Security Competency Checklist >> (released April 3, 2019)

Team Up with an AWS Competency Partner

If you want to be successful in today’s complex IT environment, and remain that way tomorrow and into the future, teaming up with an AWS Competency Partner is The Next Smart.

The AWS Competency Program verifies, validates, and vets top APN Partners that have demonstrated customer success and deep specialization in specific solution areas or segments.

See how AWS Competency Partners are driving customer success >>