Next-Gen MSP Meets Global Systems Integrator on AWS

How five AWS Global Systems Integrators are helping enterprise customers take advantage of the benefits of cloud managed services through the AWS Managed Service Program

We work closely with an ecosystem of global systems integrators, or GSIs, who help customers move, migrate, and optimize their workloads on AWS at a massive scale. AWS GSIs help enterprise customers understand how they can take advantage of AWS to undergo a digital transformation and grow their businesses. And in a similar fashion, we see our GSI partners transforming areas of their own businesses to take advantage of the cloud and provide additional value to customers on AWS. One such example is through the adoption and practice of next-generation managed service practices.

Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Infosys, and Wipro, all Premier APN Consulting Partners and AWS GSIs, have successfully undergone the AWS MSP audit process to become official AWS Managed Service Partners. Today, we’d like to tell you a little more about why these partners chose to undergo the audit process, their thoughts on the value of the third-party audit, and the value of the AWS MSP program.

What is a Next-Gen MSP?

We’ve spoken at length about what it means to be a next-generation MSP. Next-generation MSPs are first and foremost AWS experts. These partners embrace and deeply understand the importance of DevOps in both internal operations and external engagements, have dynamically responded to the power of automation for customers, and simply look at the world a little differently. According to Kelly Hartman, Global Segment Leader, MSP, at AWS, “The focus on service intelligence and continuous compliance becomes one of the main differentiators for next-gen MSPs, as it’s been proven that simply applying traditional approaches to new paradigms does not work.” The mission of the AWS MSP program is to help customers identify next-gen MSPs who can support them through the entire customer engagement lifecycle. Vishal Bagal, Delivery Manager of Cloud Managed Services at Infosys, explained, “Our objective as a cloud transformation partner for our clients is to enable rapid deployment of business workloads on AWS with predictable ROI, regulatory compliance, and enterprise-grade operations assurance. We feel working closely with AWS as an MSP will help us deliver on this promise.”

Setting a High Bar for Cloud Managed Services

Through our comprehensive third-party audit process, we’ve strived to establish a high bar for the cloud managed services offered by our partners to AWS customers. “It was imperative that we undertake the validation audit and become an AWS MSP to re-iterate our emphasis on our processes and systems in place to deliver robust solutions and deliver value to our customers,” said Chandrasekaran Raghuraman, Senior Director at Cognizant Technology Solutions. Chris Wegmann, Managing Director at Accenture, explained, “The audit process is lengthy and thorough. AWS holds high standards. We’re proud to have passed the audit and become an official AWS MSP. It speaks volumes to our tools, platform, and services.” For Capgemini, it was a big priority to demonstrate the company’s expertise in cloud managed services through the AWS MSP audit. “We work with enterprise customers to turn ‘cloud first’ from an intent to a reality in which cloud is the primary way of delivering and consuming IT within their business. We deliver enterprise-grade managed services that allow our clients to run business-critical workloads on AWS. We see strong demand from our clients for migrating to AWS,” said Joseph Coyle, Global CTO – Cloud Services, Capgemini. “We completed the audit to demonstrate to both AWS and our clients that Capgemini migrates and runs workloads on AWS to the highest standards. The audit is a major milestone for Capgemini in building our relationship with AWS.”

Going through the MSP audit affords partners an opportunity to identify best practices in cloud managed services, and areas of continued focus for their firms.

“The audit was quite comprehensive to reinforce Wipro’s process and methodologies in driving customer’s digital transformations with AWS at the core. Cloud lifecycle enablement leveraging DevOps and cloud for digital workloads tilts the scale to new age cloud native apps in bi-modal IT. Comprehensive AWS services are layered to deliver optimal performance efficiently through the Wipro BoundaryLess Datacenter™ solution. The audit essentially provided a validation of the BLDC and AWS alignment,” said Dr. Manish Govil, Global Cloud Alliance Head at Wipro. 

“Our team found the AWS MSP Validation Checklist and audit process extremely valuable,” said Coyle. “During the audit we reviewed our current processes and used the audit as a gauge to optimize our ways of working, leveraging the AWS advanced toolsets and processes. The audit process brought to our attention new AWS tools and functionality that allowed us to replace some custom IP with more standard AWS functionality.”

The Value of the AWS MSP Program

Improved customer satisfaction and a marked differentiation in the marketplace are a few of the key benefits experienced by some of our GSIs since becoming an official AWS MSP. “The AWS MSP badge helps give the needed confidence and security to our clients that the managed services we provide are best-in-breed, utilize AWS best practices, and are audited regularly,” said Bagal. The learnings gleaned through the audit process have also translated into new best practices and an improved customer experience for Wipro’s managed service customers. “We’ve been able to gain a competitive advantage through becoming an AWS MSP, and through our implementation of different AWS services (such as CloudTrail and Trusted Advisor) that play a key part in cloud managed services on AWS, we’ve seen an improved customer satisfaction rating,” explained Govil. “As the cloud has matured, customers are looking for partners with accreditations such as the AWS MSP badge. For customers, this helps them more quickly determine who can support them,” said Wegmann. “Being an AWS MSP means that an independent third-party has confirmed that Accenture has critical cloud managed services capabilities.”

“Many of our existing customers are either in the process of migrating workloads to AWS with us, or in various assessment phases of how and when to migrate,” said Coyle. “Being a member of the AWS MSP Program demonstrates to them our commitment not only to the AWS platform itself, but that Capgemini is willing to be audited yearly to ensure that we deliver the best possible AWS experience to our clients.”

To learn more about the AWS MSP Program, visit the website. Want to take a look at the audit validation checklist? Click here.