We want to make sure that you are able to capture the value of cloud computing by thinking big and building fast! As you embark on your journey to the cloud, we also want to make sure that you have access to the resources that you will need to have in order to success. For example:

AWS Training and Certification – This program helps you and your team to build and validate your cloud skills.

AWS Support – This program gives you access to tools, technology, and people, all designed to help you to optimize performance, lower costs, and innovate faster.

AWS Professional Services – Our global team of experts are ready to work with you (and your chosen APN partner) to help you to achieve your enterprise cloud computing goals.

APN Consulting Partners – This global team of professional service providers are able to help you design, architect, build, migrate, and manage your applications and workloads.

AWS Managed Services (AMS) – This service operates AWS on behalf of our enterprise-scale customers.

Today I would like to tell you about AWS IQ, a new service that will help you to engage with AWS Certified third party experts for project work. While organizations of any size can use and benefit from AWS IQ, I believe that small and medium-sized businesses will find it particularly useful. Regardless of the size of your organization, AWS IQ will let you quickly & securely find, engage, and pay AWS Certified experts for hands-on help. All of the experts have active AWS Associate, Professional, or Specialty Certifications, and are ready & willing to help you.

AWS IQ is integrated with your AWS account and your AWS bill. If you are making use of the services of an expert, AWS IQ lets you grant, monitor, and control access to your AWS Account. You can also pay the expert at the conclusion of each project milestone.

AWS IQ for Customers

I can create a new request in minutes. I visit the AWS IQ Console and click New request to get started:

One important note: The IAMFullAccess and AWSIQFullAccess managed policies must be in force if I am logged in as an IAM user.

Then I describe my request and click Submit Request:

My request is shared with the experts and they are encouraged to reply with proposals. I can monitor their responses from within the console, and I can also indicate that I am no longer accepting new responses:

After one or more responses arrive, I can evaluate the proposals, chat with the experts via text or video, and ultimately decide to Accept the proposal that best meets my needs:

A contract is created between me and the expert, and we are ready to move forward!

The expert then requests permission to access my AWS account, making use of one of nine IAM policies. I review and approve their request, and the expert is supplied with a URL that will allow them to log in to the AWS Management Console using this role:

When the agreed-upon milestones are complete, the expert creates payment requests. I approve them, and work continues until the project is complete.

After the project is complete, I enter public and private feedback for the expert. The public feedback becomes part of the expert’s profile; the private feedback is reviewed in confidence by the AWS IQ team.

AWS IQ for Experts

I can register as an expert by visiting AWS IQ for Experts. I must have one or more active AWS Certifications, I must reside in the United States, and I must have US banking and tax information. After I complete the registration process and have been approved as an expert, I can start to look for relevant requests and reply with questions or an initial expression of interest:

I can click Create to create a proposal:

When a customer accepts a proposal, the status switches to ACCEPTED. Then I click Request Permission to gain IAM-controlled access to their AWS account:

Then I ask for permission to access their AWS account:

After the customer reviews and accepts the request, I click Console access instructions to log in to the customer’s AWS account, with my access governed by the IAM policy that I asked for:

I do the work, and then request payment for a job well done:

I can request full or partial payment. Requesting full payment also concludes the proposal, and immediately disallows further console access to the customer’s AWS account and resources:

Things to Know

Here are a couple of things that you should know about AWS IQ:

Customers – Customers can reside anywhere in the world except China.

Experts – Applications from several hundred would-be experts have already been reviewed and accepted; we’ll continue to add more as quickly as possible. As I noted earlier, experts must reside in the United States.

Project Value – The project value must be $1 or more.

Payment – The customer’s payment is charged to their AWS account at their request, and disbursed monthly to the expert’s account. Customers will be able to see their payments on their AWS bill.

In the Works – We have a long roadmap for this cool new service, but we are eager to get your feedback and will use it to drive our prioritization process. Please take a look at AWS IQ and let us know what you think!

— Jeff;