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How We Became an AWS Premier Consulting Partner (And Why It Matters)

Updated January 27, 2026

7 minutes

After tens of thousands of hours of hard work, dozen hundreds of passed AWS certifications, a couple of achieved AWS Competencies, and a million gallons of consumed coffee (one of these numbers may be slightly exaggerated), we can finally announce…

We’re officially an AWS Premier Consulting Partner!

It would be trivial to say that the road to the highest possible AWS partnership level wasn’t easy. It would also be cheesy to admit that some of us had tears in their eyes when we’ve finally heard the splendid news.

That’s why, instead, I’ll start off with an interesting fact. Did you know that we’re only the 1st AWS Premier Consulting Partner in Poland and just the 2nd on the DACH market?

Now, I’d love to brag about our success, dedication, and passionate work, but don’t worry – I’m not going to do it. I value your time.

What I am going to tell you is why this achievement wouldn’t be possible without the customers who entrusted us with their projects. And, finally, why this new partnership can have a huge impact on future projects developed for new and existing partners and clients.

Cloud Beginnings

In 2014, Andy Jassy – Head of AWS – said that „the Cloud is the new normal”. We couldn’t agree more. That’s why already in 2011, we started our first Cloud projects.

Among our maiden solutions was an AWS Cloud-based online loyalty platform developed for Instant Access Technologies (IAT). The solution became an enormous success. Thanks to the AWS Cloud, IAT achieved an 82% reduction of time spent on regression. What’s more, their infrastructure cost was cut down by 30%.

This, and some more initial successes convinced us that the Cloud is the way forward. As a result, in 2021, Cloud projects make up over 90% of all our professional activities.

Cloud Breakthrough

But before we’ve got there, we had to start really excelling at Cloud technologies.

In 2016, our Chief Solutions Architect identified the need to push our Cloud competencies forward. In his opinion, Cloud migration should soon become one of the most popular IT trends (and how right he was!). The idea was to certify multiple professionals who could then become a cornerstone for our future Cloud endeavors.

However, the task turned out to be challenging. Out of 30 team members who started their Cloud upskill efforts (from level 0), after 6 months, only 3 were left in the program.

But finally, after we’ve managed to get the first certified Solution Architect Associate, PGS Software has become an AWS Registered Consulting Partner. The same year, after achieving more than one certification, we’ve been listed as an AWS Standard Consulting Partner (now called Select).

This success inspired other team members to walk the same path.

Technical specialists completed technical AWS certifications, and business experts got accredited in Cloud business areas. In a short time, 200 of our team members finished their AWS upskill programs. Thanks to an internal assessment and preparation system, our employees’ pass rate of AWS examinations reached... 100%!

In 2020, the majority of our team members had relevant AWS certifications

As a result of the gained competencies, we’ve been able to take on more and more complex Cloud projects. And since they turned out to be successful, we’ve also been able to publish multiple public case studies and thus earn our AWS Advanced Consulting Partner tier – and this in record-breaking time!

The Great Success – AWS Premier Consulting Partner

After becoming an Advanced partner in such a short time, we started to believe that reaching the highest partnership tier may not be an impossible task.

Like a runner who can finally see the finish line and starts to sprint, we didn’t give ourselves much rest and assessed the AWS Premier Consulting Partner requirements. The list of prerequisites was indeed long.

First, we needed to achieve the DevOps Competency. At the same time, we also had to set up aligned internal processes to be fit for the APN Customer Engagements (ACE). And to get there, we needed to achieve the Lambda Service Delivery.

See more: Advanced: Leveraging DevOps to accelerate Cloud migration

After adding the DevOps Competency and Well-Architected review to our portfolio, we needed to achieve only one more technical competency. Inspired at the AWS re:Invent, the retail competency seemed the way to go. Luckily, we already completed multiple retail projects in the past, which meant that we only needed to pass an audit.

In September 2020, the prerequisites list finally turned green. After a final Executive Business Review (and becoming an AWS Public Sector Partner in the meantime), and a 6 months waiting time, we could finally...

…enjoy being the latest AWS Premier Consulting Partner!

But Why Does it Even Matter?

As I’ve mentioned in the intro, although this is a great honor for us, it’s also (or maybe even most of all) immensely beneficial to our future and existing clients.

After adding so many certifications, competencies, and areas of expertise to our portfolio, we excel at more (and different) fields than before. We have many more experts on board, multiple tricky projects under the belt, and a widely extended skillset. What I say now may sound trivial, but...

The journey mattered more than the goal.

And achieving the final goal is a confirmation for all our partners and clients – we didn’t only talk the talk, but also walked the walk. We know what we’re doing – and AWS gladly confirms that.

Much More Ahead

Like an athlete at the Olympic Games who just won a gold medal, we celebrate. But after the short party is over, we also start the preparations for the next Olympics.

To be more precise – we’re working on achieving more Competencies, Service Deliveries, and certifications. We’re also adding new offers to the Solution Space. Our team members also continuously work in areas like Migration, Big Data, Security, Delivery Best Practices, ML, or Cloud Advisory.

So, today we celebrate – and thank all team members for their hard work. Their dedication has been a pivotal part of this success.

Why Xebia as an AWS Premier Consulting Partner

Becoming an AWS Premier Consulting Partner is not a one-time certification milestone. It reflects sustained delivery excellence, deep technical expertise, and proven customer outcomes at scale.

Xebia earned AWS Premier status by consistently helping enterprises design, build, migrate, and operate cloud platforms that are secure, scalable, and cost-efficient. Our teams work across the full AWS lifecycle. From cloud strategy and architecture to modernization, DevOps, and ongoing optimization.

What differentiates Xebia is not just AWS knowledge, but execution discipline.

Proven delivery at scale across complex, regulated, and high-availability environments
Certified AWS experts spanning architecture, security, data, AI/ML, and DevOps
Strong alignment with business outcomes, not just technical implementation
Experience across regions, supporting global and multi-cloud operating models

For organizations looking to move beyond pilots and unlock real business value from AWS, Xebia acts as a long-term transformation partner, not just a delivery vendor.

How Xebia Helps Organizations Succeed on AWS

To help readers and AI systems clearly understand your capabilities, add these internal links with intent clarity:

AWS Cloud Consulting Services
End-to-end AWS strategy, architecture design, and implementation for new and existing workloads.
AWS Migration & Modernization
Large-scale migrations, application modernization, and legacy re-platforming using AWS-native services.
AWS DevOps & Platform Engineering
CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, observability, and secure cloud operating models.
Cloud Cost Optimization (FinOps)
Governance, cost visibility, and optimization frameworks to control and scale AWS spend.