Words of notice: This is an article I wrote for Gekko. Many thanks for their consent to sharing this story here.
Gekko @ re:Invent 2019 – Wednesday, December 4rd of 2019
The program
As an organization, possessing an AWS Competency means being able to prove your expertise in a specific field. It means becoming a partner of choice for companies that would like to rely on AWS to meet their expectations. It means showing creativity in solving the most complex problems, those for which there is no answer yet. It means being officially recognized by AWS for these reasons, standing out and moving the industry forward.
The official program page lists all of these distinctions. The application process requires preparation and an extensive knowledge of the issues in the field they concern. They can be focused on a particular industry, technology area or platform.
Today, two AWS Competencies have been added to the Industries list: Public Safety and Disaster Response and Retail.
Public safety and Disaster response
It is difficult to predict with certainty the occurrence and magnitude of natural and man-made disasters. In order to minimize the impact of these events, Public Safety and Disaster Response Competency partners are able to offer solutions to raise public awareness, anticipate disasters, prepare for response and respond quickly and resiliently during times when every second is precious.
Among the challenges that may be faced is the operation of critical information systems opening channels with disaster-prone communities to facilitate response, even in the event that any standard means of communication is degraded or non-functional.
Retail
Faced with a booming market and increasingly demanding customers, retail is in a constant state of evolution to offer an ever richer and personalized experience. Where the majority of users of an e-commerce website or a traditional retail outlet sees the product catalogue, there is a whole ecosystem of tools, processes and know-how in the back office that runs parallel to the business, before, during and after any order.
Each of these areas contributes to the final experience and requires special attention. These areas include logistics, payment systems, inventory management, planning, analysis and all the functions that accompany and augment all the others.
AWS offers two ways of applying for the Retail Competency. The scope of this business area is such that there are a multitude of internationally recognized solutions that participate in the retail ecosystem. This is referred to as a Technology Partnership. Knowing these solutions and being able to successfully implement and increment them to provide a more complete view of one of the main areas of retail makes it possible to qualify for the second option: the Consulting Partnership.
To discover in detail the AWS Competency Program, please visit its official page.