I suspect that the answer ranges from “probably not” to a resounding “no!”. However, let me explain the reason behind asking this rather strange question. It all comes down to confidence. In most important things in life, the preference is towards having confidence in service providers.
For example:
- It is preferable to have an Uber driver who has actually passed his or her driving test
- It is preferable to have a surgeon who has performed lots of operations rather than a novice
- It is preferable to be represented by a lawyer who has won lots of cases
- Taking this further, it is preferable to have an EDI provider with lots of experience
AdvanceFirst Technologies Ltd (AFT) can certainly demonstrate this – we have over 350 man-years of experience – not just in EDI but also in systems automation and related consultancy. It is safe to say that we ditched our ‘L’ plates a long time ago.
Now, let’s talk about Amazon.
A lot of sellers use this marketplace. These sellers will have had to negotiate a whole obstacle course of bureaucratic challenges in order to become an Amazon merchant. Most of those merchants would likely say that it has been worth it in terms of the volume of business generated. The Amazon system itself has been honed over the years to provide a streamlined process for merchants to sell their goods and for customers to buy them. The system has many protections built into it, both technical and legal, making all those who use it feel safe about doing so.
The same can be said for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) system. For those who are unaware of it, AWS is Amazon’s offering in the web and data hosting arena. Unlike most data centres, however, it is almost completely under the control of the user. Server updates can be performed in a matter of minutes with a few clicks of the mouse – and a modest fee, of course.
However, this isn’t a sales pitch for Amazon’s services.
The point is that a similar set of systemic and administrative protections that are present in the better known marketplace are also in place in AWS. For this reason, AFT use AWS extensively in their managed services provision (MSP). In addition to this, the AFT MSP makes good use of the latest in .Net and SQL technology. This ensures that the MSP is capable of high traffic throughput with the most efficient use of server resources. The efficiency of data storage and retrieval is also inherent in the technology. The upshot of all this is that there will never be a need to reduce the quality of the service should transaction volumes increase (unlike, say, Netflix who reduced the quality of their streaming during the lockdown). So, if your business is doing well under lockdown, or indeed at any other time, you can be confident that the AFT MSP will be able to keep up with you. Let’s keep pace together.
