iOCO has achieved its one-hundredth Amazon Web Services (AWS) certification.
iOCO’s AWS certifications range from solutions architect certifications to specialty certifications across a number of business units, including its Application Development (DevOps), Data and Analytics, Quality Assurance (testing), and cloud practices.
The iOCO team has 11 out of the possible 12 certifications that AWS offers in their area of expertise, including Foundational, Associate and Professional level certifications, as well as specialty certifications in Advanced Networking, Security, Data Analytics, Databases as well as Machine Learning.
The company intends to add the remaining certification to its capabilities in order to retain its position as a leading cloud provider, supporting customers across all areas on their digital transformation journey.
Richard Vester, cluster executive: cloud and security at iOCO, says that the team decided to invest extensively into iOCO’s AWS practice in order to provide customers with the highest levels of service, and obtaining these certifications became a strategic objective. Similarly, iOCO’s Application Development, Quality Assurance and Data business units have made the certifications an integral part of the career development path for their teams.
“As we have added to our AWS certification tally, and as we added depth to our understanding of AWS, we found that we were delivering more complete, resilient and cost-effective solutions to our customers. These certifications have been instrumental to improving our offerings and enabling us to help customers solve complex business problems with simple well-architected solutions,” Vester says.
Varsha Ramesar, managing executive for data and analytics at iOCO, adds that the AWS certifications have opened conversations and thinking spaces in the data and analytics arena. “Achieving AWS certifications has enabled our clients to discuss current and future data challenges and opportunities with the confidence that iOCO understands the foundational and traditional data systems, as well as the potential cloud brings to these data ecosystems to allow businesses to leverage the best of modern architectures,” she says.
“Collaborating with AWS has given us access to amazing learning material and prototyping opportunities that gives our teams the unique ability to ‘play’ with leading edge technologies and continuously refine our offering and value to our customers. We can therefore engage with our customers with the confidence that our solutions are relevant to the demands of their modern businesses.”
Vester explains that the AWS certifications provide a level of trust and peace of mind for customers, who can have the confidence that iOCO’s solutions are backed by best practices and the right skills. “Even in our international business, customers are impressed by the commitment we have shown to building a dedicated AWS practice.
In today’s fast-paced business environment, organisations are looking for partners that can help them marry their traditional portfolios with the benefits offered by hyperscale. Through our continuous investment into the skills and knowledge needed to offer best of breed solutions – as well as the fact that we can offer an end-to-end solution encompassing all of a customer’s needs, from infrastructure, to analytics, to application development – we have set ourselves apart and have built a loyal customer base as a result.”
Clydie Cronje, cluster executive for application development at iOCO, says that each area is a vital cog in the digital wheel. “Every solution requires different layers, and very few companies can provide a complete offering encompassing all of them. iOCO’s deep AWS capabilities and skills provide clients with a huge competitive advantage. It doesn’t matter where their AppDev solution sits, for example, we are able to build and provision future-proof and cost-effective solutions.”
This is particularly relevant in the application development space, he adds, because most companies have a combination of legacy applications and new cloud-native apps that they are adding to their portfolios. “The lines between development and operations have also become blurred, and our holistic solution ensures that we are able to deploy into current and future environments,” Cronje says.
“Each certification has added value to our AWS practice, and we can offer customers a unique value proposition. In fact, few other companies can offer the best of both worlds in the same way that iOCO can together with all the benefits that AWS offers. We understand how to integrate these solutions to provide customised, cost-effective, and best of breed solutions,” Vester concludes.