Amazon Web Services’ business model has traditionally focused on enablement for startups, but the company is growing in the public sector arena and has thousands of global partners in vertical industries, including space, healthcare, education, state and local government, federal government and more. 

“One of the things I love most is how … the public sector can really make technology have a meaningful impact on the world,” said Sandy Carter (pictured), vice president of AWS Public Sector partners at AWS. “I get to work with partners like Orbis, which is a non-profit fighting preventable blindness … they’ve got something called CyberSec AI, which enables us to use over 20 different machine learning algorithms to detect common eye diseases in seconds.”

Another partner, Twisthink, works with AWS IoT to help turn water pumps into smart pumps that clean water in 7,300 remote locations around the world, according to Carter, who spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during AWS re:Invent. They discussed which programs and initiatives that AWS Public Sector partners are most excited about, as well as the opportunities for growth in 2021. (* Disclosure below.)

Insights from 100 partners in 100 days

Unable to meet with partners in person because of the pandemic, Carter decided to meet virtually with one partner a day in 68 countries for 100 days. One of the insights she came away with was how popular the AWS Migration Acceleration Program is.

“We now have funding available for partners as they assess migration, look at mobilizing it, and as they migrate it,” she said. “We have over twice the number of migration competency partners doing business in the public sector this year than we did last year.”

Additional initiatives partners mentioned frequently include AWS’ marketing efforts showcasing different technologies, such as cybersecurity, to customers. Artificial intelligence and machine learning were hot topics, as was a new program called the AWS Rapid Adoption Assistance program for partners, which will expand globally in 2021.

Top three AWS programs that spark partner enthusiasm

AWS’ Think Big for Small Business is one of the programs that partners were most enthusiastic about, according to Carter. The program focuses on diverse partner groups and types and “provides just a little bit of extra boost to our small and medium businesses to help them get some of the benefits of our AWS Partner Program,” she said. “Companies like MFT based in South Africa — a husband and wife team that focuses on the Black Economic Empowerment rating — they use the program to get some of the go-to-market capability.”

Partners were also interested in learning more about AWS’ ProServe Ready pilot, which helps to accelerate partner activation and enablement and provides partner training on ProServe best practices. 

The Authority to Operate on AWS was a third popular program, supporting both technology and consulting partners with developing compliance frameworks. “This program is amazing because it cuts the time to market and … really steps partners through all of our best practices [for compliance],” Carter stated.

Looking forward to 2021, Carter’s message to AWS Public Sector partners is: “There is a lot of growth ahead and a lot of ways we can add value … look for how you could really accelerate using some of those areas on your customer journey as you’re going along.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: AWS Public Sector sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE