Are you taking a risk using AWS consultants for your cloud integration

Steve Rastall (Founder & CEO) 24-May-2022 10:31:54

AWS Migration

In recent years, we’ve seen more and more mission-critical applications and business processes move to the cloud. As a result, we are becoming increasingly reliant on cloud technology from large providers.

However, integrating cloud-based applications with existing systems and processes is a complex technical project with lots of moving parts. This requires cloud-specific skills and expertise to ensure your integration is successful.

If, like many, you find a gap in skills internally when it comes to the cloud, you may consider turning to AWS consultants to carry out your implementation for you. Unfortunately, though, this can create more challenges than solutions in the long run.

Understanding AWS Consultants

While it may seem like the best option to rely on AWS consultants to support your requirements for an AWS cloud project, this approach can cause issues on a platform like AWS which is constantly evolving.

With an AWS consultant, you bring in an expert to get a particular piece of work completed. These are typically small organisations made up of one or two technical experts who have years of experience working with AWS software in a business context.

Of course, they’ll have a portfolio of clients for which they’ll split their time, and prioritise based on things like budget and urgency, just like any service provider.

The Pitfalls of Working with AWS Consultants

Granted, this is the most popular approach for many businesses, but working with a consultant can cause issues later after the initial work is completed.

The cloud is a dynamic, highly flexible technology, with a vast range of variables involved. AWS is constantly evolving so using a consultant on a case by case basis doesn't address the ongoing maintenance / security / monitoring that's needed with AWS infrastructure.

A cloud-based IT infrastructure must have:

Constant real-time monitoring and analysis of usage
Careful proactive cost management
Continual optimisation to maintain performance
Ongoing support and maintenance
Patching, security updates, and more.

Each of these areas is complicated, time-consuming and can be expensive if you don't have the right tools to automate.

When you’re relying on a consultant to just deliver a cloud integration for you, you’ll find your business is lacking in all the above areas once your integration project is complete.

In that case, you may end up getting into a managed service arrangement for additional ongoing support, which is a high expense. It won’t guarantee you the consultant’s full attention either, because they’ll have other clients to juggle as well.

Alternatively, you may have to go and find other individual AWS consultants to help you with your architecture, your cloud support, and so on. This will end up being even more costly and will still present all the same issues all over again.

Of course, most of those AWS consultants will only complete the package of work they’re asked to do anyway. Its rare to find a consultant who has the breadth of knowledge to advise you on long-term strategic decisions that you will need to make about your AWS infrastructure.