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Today’s world is cloud-driven and businesses are leveraging the power of cloud to innovate while maintaining security, efficiency, and cost control. However, as cloud environments grow more complex how can you be sure that your infrastructure is not only built right but also performing at its peak?
That's where AWS comes in with its Well-Architected Framework, an architectural blueprint created by seasoned AWS specialists that states the key concepts, design principles, and architectural best practices for designing and running workloads in the AWS ecosystem.
As defined by AWS, The Well-Architected Framework is a collection of best practices that allow customers to evaluate and improve their cloud workloads' design, implementation, and operations.
The AWS Well-Architected Framework Pillars are built upon six key areas:
- Operational Excellence
- Security
- Reliability
- Performance Efficiency
- Cost Optimization
- Sustainability
What is AWS Well-Architected Review (AWS WAR)?
AWS Well-Architected Review (AWS WAR) is a systematic process of assessing your infrastructure against the defined best practices and identifying areas of improvement, any critical issues, or optimization opportunities.
But simply following the framework isn't always enough and might not lead you to your desired solution. Thus having the right AWS Well-Architected Partner makes all the difference.
Here's a blog to read in-depth about AWS Well-Architected Review.
Who is an AWS Well-Architected Partner?
An AWS Well-Architected Partner is a certified consulting partner recognized by AWS for their expertise in implementing the AWS Well-Architected Framework. These partners have the skills, expertise, and resources to conduct AWS Well-Architected Reviews, helping organizations assess and improve their cloud environments based on best practices across all the key pillars.
While selecting an AWS Well-Architected Partner, you must ensure that they have a deep understanding of AWS Well-Architected best practices and know how to apply them effectively based on your specific organization’s maturity level, objectives, and capabilities.
Limitations of the Traditional AWS WAR Method
Many AWS Well-Architected Partners still follow the traditional review method. AWS Well-Architected Review(AWS WAR) is quite an extensive process, and each pillar consists of a set of assessment questions. AWS has established standard AWS Well-Architected best practices for each of those assessment questions, however, its implementation comes with certain limitations.
Lengthy Questionnaires
Traditional AWS WARs rely on extensive questionnaires which can overwhelm your team. These are often time-consuming, resource-draining, and cost-ineffective. Moreover, the questions may lack relevance to the specific needs and purpose for which you are conducting AWS WAR.
One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Traditional AWS WAR doesn’t take the company’s specific maturity, objectives, or capabilities into account. Whether it's a startup seeking rapid cost reduction or an established enterprise looking for long-term cost optimization, in traditional AWS WARs, everyone gets the same assessment questions. This approach can lead to more questions than answers.
Generic Recommendations
Because the traditional AWS WAR is one-size-fits-all, the recommendations are usually too broad and may not offer practical, specific steps for the specific challenge that your team can act on. Implementing these broad recommendations without a clear direction can lead to wasted resources and missed opportunities for meaningful improvement.
Lack of implementation support
The lack of hands-on implementation support makes it even harder to turn recommendations into action leaving you to figure out the next steps on your own. Thus, achieving optimal cloud performance can feel like a distant goal. And also we know that businesses don't have this much time to sort through broad recommendations.
How does CloudKeeper help as your AWS Well-Architected Partner?
As an AWS Certified Well-Architected Partner, CloudKeeper recognizes that every cloud environment has its own unique challenges. We understand that no two organizations have the same level of maturity or capabilities.
Many of our customers also shared their feedback that traditional AWS Well-Architected Reviews often overlook customers’ specifics and commence without a deep understanding of pain points and capabilities, resulting in generic recommendations that fail to deliver tangible value.
To tackle these challenges head-on, CloudKeeper, exclusively came up with a smarter approach to AWS Well-Architected Reviews that addresses all the limitations of traditional AWS WAR —and it’s all at no cost to you!
As an AWS Well-Architected Partner, we never let our customers go through the long and cumbersome process, instead, our entire AWS WAR process is customized for each company.
How does CloudKeeper stand out as an AWS Well-Architected Partner?
We start our AWS WAR process with “you (our customer)” in mind.
CloudKeeper follows a customer-centric engagement model. Before diving into the AWS Well-Architected Review, we conduct thorough consultations to understand your unique infrastructure and its gaps, your capabilities, and your desired outcomes from the review. Additionally, the foundation analysis helps us to tailor our recommendations and action plan based on your capabilities and maturity level.
Pre-WAR Essential: A 90-minute detailed discussion for a deep understanding of your infrastructure and goals.
Post-WAR Essential: A 90-minute detailed discussion to finalize actionable recommendations based on your maturity level.
Here’s how we are countering every challenge of Traditional AWS WAR:
- Automated Architectural Review
Forget those long, tedious questionnaires. As an AWS Well-Architected Partner, we use advanced automation to assess your cloud infrastructure, making the process quicker and more relevant to your specific needs. This streamlined approach cuts down the time and effort needed by up to 5x, focusing on what truly matters to you.
- Custom recommendations for your cloud environment
We don’t do one-size-fits-all. Our recommendations are crafted just for you, thanks to our detailed post-WAR conversation. As an AWS Well-Architected Partner, we understand your environment inside and out, so our advice is always on point and actionable, helping you see real improvements in your cloud performance.
- Actionable Plans with Clear Milestones
Traditional reviews often stop at basic recommendations. Not us. We provide a clear action plan divided into short, medium, and long-term strategies. Our AWS Well-Architected Reviews break it down into actionable steps for the next 30, 60, and 90 days, so you know exactly what to do and when.
- Comprehensive Cloud Optimization Support
As your AWS Well-Architected Partner, we’re with you every step of the way, helping you implement changes and achieve cloud efficiency. Our certified experts provide ongoing support, making sure you get the most out of your cloud investment and see results faster.
Here’s a comparative table highlighting the clear advantage
Steps for CloudKeeper’s AWS Well-Architected Review Process:
Our Value Proposition as Your AWS Well-Architected Partner
As your AWS Well-Architected Partner, we go beyond basic assessment & recommendation and help you drive real cloud optimization with actionable strategies and tangible results. Here’s how we make a difference:
- Identify Critical Issues & Challenges
We dive into your cloud environment to find issues impacting performance, cloud security, or cost efficiency that often get missed in a traditional review.
- Tracking & Remediation of Top Pain Points
We focus on resolving critical issues first, helping you improve cloud performance and save up to 10% within the first 90 days.
- Adoption & Integration of New AWS Services
As your AWS Well-Architected Partner, we guide you in integrating the latest AWS services, keeping your infrastructure efficient and up-to-date.
- Expert Consulting for Overall Cloud Optimization
Our team provides expert advice to optimize your cloud’s architecture, performance, and cost management for long-term gains.
- Proactive Outreach for Cost Optimization
We continuously monitor your environment for hidden savings opportunities, avoiding surprise cost spikes.
- Human-Assisted Anomaly Detection to avoid Alert Fatigue
We know too many alerts can be overwhelming. That’s why we filter out unnecessary notifications and highlight only the significant issues.
- Custom Monthly Cost Analysis Reports
Each month, we send you detailed reports that break down your costs, trends, and other key insights, making it easier for you to take action.
CloudKeeper’s Proven Capabilities as an AWS Well-Architected Partner
An AWS Premier Partner, with 15+ years of cloud expertise, CloudKeeper stands out as one of the most experienced AWS Well-Architected Partners. CloudKeeper was ranked in the top 5 AWS Well-Architected Partners globally in the challenge conducted by AWS.
Our AWS WAR Success Story
Within a week of partnering with CloudKeeper, as an AWS Well-Architected Partner, Prodigal reduced their monthly AWS costs by 25% and resolved many operational issues through the automated AWS Well-Architected Review & Implementation support.
How to choose your AWS Well-Architected Partner: A Quick Checklist
Next time when you go for an AWS Well-Architected Review, ensure your partner checks yes to the below questions.
- Do they take the time to understand current state & company specifics(needs, challenges, desired outcomes, maturity level)?
- Is their process simple, efficient, and streamlined?
- Are their recommendations customized to your needs?
- Do they provide a clear action plan on how to improve your infra?
- Will they guide you on the implementation of the action plan?
- Are they certified AWS Well-Architected Partners and have enough experience?
Remember, AWS Well-Architected Review is always a smart investment and instrumental in guiding you toward an optimized cloud infrastructure on all six AWS WAR pillars. But don’t settle for a one-size-fits-all approach.
CloudKeeper’s customized AWS Well-Architected Reviews and hands-on support help you not only save costs but also achieve peak performance and lasting value—all without any upfront expense.
Claim your FREE AWS Well-Architected Review with CloudKeeper today!
