Looking back on our AWS Partner milestones

15 years ago, AWS introduced its first services to the world. What used to be the online infrastructure of Amazon was soon to become the backbone of the biggest companies worldwide. In 2006, when EC2 and S3 were actively rolling out, Xebia embraced cloud to host software development projects that we did for our customers. After getting the hang of it, we became an official partner in 2010 and strengthened our relationship with AWS.

Growing as an AWS Partner

As our love for the cloud grew, we became an AWS-focused consulting partner with a clear ambition: being the best, most down to earth, cloud consultancy in the known universe. In 2018 we sealed this fate by becoming the first AWS Premier Consulting Partner in the Benelux. And even in 2022, we continue to grow and develop on the platform that brought us where we are today. Last year AWS announced that of the tens of thousands of partners in their network, only 114 are Premier Partners. And we still carry that as a badge of honour. 

AWS Premier partners at re:Invent 2021. Oblivion Cloud Control and PGS Software now proudly belong to the Xebia Group

In our day-to-day operations we work closely with AWS. Our direct points of contact are of course the partner managers. These Partner Development Managers have been with us for years and know our goals, strategies and struggles. Working with them helps to keep up with the rapid developments at AWS. Whether it be new acceleration funding programs for our customers (MAP), launches of new services or internal movements. 

While AWS grows, we have to keep up as well. In 2021 we were fortunate to have welcomed 13 new colleagues at Xebia’s AWS Cloud Service Line in various roles, from managed services, to consulting and engineering. And with four new colleagues this February and more ready to join, we are ecstatic to see how we will end 2022 with this increase of manpower both at AWS and Xebia.

What happens in Vegas?

Since re:Invent first took place 10 years ago, you could always find some Dutchies in the Las Vegas crowd. We look back on many amazing keynotes that we witnessed, relationships that we built and friendships we made during those special weeks. After taking a virtual break last year, we were back in full force with our re:Invent team. Being at re:Invent is always a nice reminder of our unique presence as an AWS Premier Consulting partner. 

The week of re:Invent always brings a magical feeling almost. But it’s also a long week of working. What exactly does a week at re:Invent look like? Sure, we get to enjoy the parties, the landscape and shows. But also here we are on a mission. Our relationship with AWS plays an important role as well. Since most of our operations happen out of the Netherlands, we rarely get to meet our international partners at AWS. Typically, re:Invent brings all the corners of the earth together on one premise, and it is here that we really get the time to build our partnerships even further with the actual people that make it happen. 

New announcements and initiatives

Next on our agendas are the long days full of keynotes, announcements and demo’s. We’re here to learn a thing or two as well. This year specifically we pointed our attention towards the new Cloud Financial Management announcements and the AI/ML keynotes. As a team we also summarized our favorite announcements from the keynotes by AWS CEO Adam Selipsky and Amazon CTO Werner Vogels. 

re:Invent is also the place where we can connect with our peers and new ideas come to fruition. As we recently announced, we have introduced a new initiative to the world of cloud with our friends over at Cloudar, the FinOps Alliance. After a long day announcements and keynotes, we got inspired to put more attention towards the financial side of cloud. Check out the FinOps Alliance if you are interested in learning more or sharing knowledge related to Cloud Financial Management! 

Why talent chooses a Premier Consulting Partner 

We carry our premier partnership as a badge of honour. And we’re proud that this is recognized by some of our new colleagues as well in the past year. Recently we spoke with Jurgen, who joined Xebia in September of last year. Jurgen started out as an intern, and after graduation came back to start his career in the AWS cloud. 

During my internships I confirmed for myself that I wanted to focus on AWS in my career. And Xebia really has this focus. The benefits of being a Premier AWS Consulting partner was also recognized by our customers, and during my internship I already got to work with some very cool customer names. Then I also understood that we’re pretty well-known in the AWS space.

• Jurgen Kamp
  

  Award Winning Partner

  Over the years, we have seen our partnership with AWS blossom, both technology wise as well as on a business level. 2021 was a prime (no pun intended) example of this collaboration. In March we were officially credited with the official Migration Competency, after a thorough review of our experience with helping customers migrate to AWS. Soon after, we enrolled in the Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) of AWS, specifically designed to speed up cloud adoption during various phases of a cloud migration. 

We were proud of our own efforts and contributions to this program, but to have them officially recognized by AWS makes it even more special, as Oblivion (now Xebia’s AWS Cloud Service Line) was officially named as both AWS Consulting and Migration Partner of the Year 2021.