Innovative Solutions signs strategic agreement with AWS

Cloud services provider Innovative Solutions has announced that it has entered into a multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services, with the two organisations aligning their sales, marketing, and delivery teams to accelerate the adoption of cloud services in the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and startup industry segments. 

Innovative will enhance their customer's cloud journey experience through managed services offerings as well as the company's ability to support customers through the full digital transformation lifecycle; migration, modernisation, data strategy, and machine learning (ML).

"We're thrilled to work with AWS on this remarkable opportunity," said Justin Copie, CEO of Innovative. "This agreement helps us achieve our vision of helping every SME customer become a technology company. The size and scale of this agreement, and how it will help us accelerate, is without precedent."

Agreement to drive investment in several key areas

The agreement between Innovative and AWS drives key investments in several areas that address the growing demand for AWS products and services across Innovative's base of 600+ SME customers, as well as with new customers in the US and Canada. Innovative will expand its migration and modernisation practice, and managed services offerings and build out new practices in data analytics and ML to support the advanced stages of its customers' journey to the cloud. Innovative will also invest in the development and scale of its portfolio, listing the company's solutions in AWS Marketplace to help SMB customers quickly procure and further accelerate migration to AWS.

"Talent acquisition and growth is a central part of our strategy," said Jaime Eisenhauer, Chief People Officer at Innovative. "We provide our customers with proven experts, so we have aligned both our recruiting and training programs to provide our services with the best talent in North America. 

“It starts with a solid foundation, and every employee at Innovative – from administrative support to accounting to sales to the executive team – has earned an AWS certification. From there, we go deep with AWS Solutions Architects, DevOps engineers, and specialties that match the needs of our customers. Working at Innovative is like getting a graduate degree in the cloud."

As an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner, Innovative has rapidly expanded by adding specialised services for businesses wishing to migrate their server infrastructure to AWS and managing a customer's cloud operations thereafter. With this new agreement, Innovative Solutions plans to accelerate growth and customer satisfaction by creating four practice groups: Migrations, Modernisation, Data Engagements, and Machine Learning. Each will serve as its own lines of business and be responsible for increasing the depth, scale, agility, and reach to provide the best customer experience to Innovative and AWS's mutual customers at all stages in their digital transformation.

Innovative's growth plans include the expansion of its Managed Cloud Services (MCS) line of business. MCS customers are more confident when growing on the cloud because their infrastructure is managed for cost, security, and compliance with a combination of tools and services. One foundational capability included for all MCS customers, at no additional charge, is CloudCheckr, a cloud management product in Spot by NetApp's portfolio for cloud operations. In concert with Innovative's cloud experts, CloudCheckr provides visibility and intelligence to better manage costs, make infrastructure more secure and in compliance, and optimise resources in use.

"Innovative's growth and strategic relationship with AWS is a testament to the quality of service they provide their customers," said Kevin McGrath, vice president and general manager of Spot by NetApp. "NetApp is proud to be working with successful service providers like Innovative to together help our joint customers take full advantage of the power of AWS."

"Over the last 24 months, we have seen a significant rise in demand and adoption of cloud solutions as small and medium size business businesses look to grow their digital offerings," said Ruba Borno, vice president of Worldwide Channels & Alliances at AWS. "We are excited to expand our relationship with Innovative Solutions and help businesses broaden their customer base and bring new products to market and continue on their cloud migration journey."