The cloud platform has been welcomed by many companies in recent years, with its advantages being that it makes it easy for companies to quickly get started with various applications that are easy to manage and require payment only for the services they use. Companies especially appreciate that they no longer to make large outlays in capital investment, and can utilize only what they need in a cloud environment. Cloud support is also provided, so companies are able to reduce their internal support costs. In this age of digital transformation, in steps Nextlink Technology, an Amazon APN Premier Consulting Partner that helps companies get started and take advantage of all the cloud has to offer. Recently, Nextlink became the first AWS partner to be certified as an Amazon QuickSight Service Provider to provide officially recognized consulting and support services.
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Amazon QuickSight BI tools help integrate cloud data
The main advantage of a cloud system is that it can collect large amounts of data, but the effective integration and analysis of the data that make it useful for business requires the assistance of business intelligence (BI) tools. Amazon QuickSight is AWS’s first BI tool that facilitates the integration of other services on AWS, automatically collecting relevant data from different data points for visualization. This tool has also become the last link in the Data Lake, making it easy to generate analytical reports using tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Amazon QuickSight also has a wide range of applications in different areas. For example, management at a mall can use this tool for traffic forecasting or other marketing utility analysis. This tool can also be used for automatic visualization of system maintenance, making data integration faster. Since it is already part of the AWS family of services, it is easy to integrate and combine with other services on the platform to further increase efficiency.
AWS APN Consulting Partner Responsibility
According to Joyce Wong, Head of Sales at Nextlink Technology, even with quality products, we still need intermediate consulting partners to provide reliable support services and provide relevant advice to help customers find the service package that best suits their needs. Wong explained that AWS provides a certification program to ensure the quality of its partners, and that the relevant technology and sales staff become certified as experts. Partners themselves also need rigorous third-party auditors to obtain AWS core consulting status. Even once you are a qualified APN Premier Consulting Partner, you still need to achieve additional certification for each specialized product as a service provider.
Wong shared that obtaining official certification can give customers more confidence. In addition to providing service portfolio recommendations, Nextlink will also assist customers with billing and assisting in currency conversion. In addition, after using AWS services, Nextlink will continue to provide follow-up monitoring and maintenance support to customers to ensure smooth system operation. Wong then laughed and explained that even as the head of sales at Nextlink, she constantly needed to improve her knowledge of AWS products because the company continues to improve and add to its lineup and the certification exams are constantly updated, so she has to keep up to ensure she has the latest qualifications. As AWS recently opened a new regional office in Hong Kong, the expectation is that there will be more customers demanding its services.
Service Adopting a Modular Approach
Chad Lau, a senior project engineer at Nextlink, said that AWS uses a modular service design, with the different functions split into modules. When customers choose services, they can choose different services to suit the most suitable solution for them. One of the QuickSight services certified by Nextlink is one of them.
In addition to the flexibility of the service portfolio, there are many business model options for charging customers. AWS has a pay-per-view pricing method that allows customers to choose to calculate the cost only when using the service. The accuracy can even be calculated in seconds, which is suitable for users who do not need to use the tool for a long time, providing greater price flexibility. Customers can also try new features and choose the combination they want. Lau explained that AWS uses a “common responsibility model” where AWS manages and maintains the service infrastructure, and customers are responsible for and managing the data and applications on the system. Therefore, it is important for partners to act as a middleman and become a support bridge between AWS and customers.
