Australia’s second largest telco announced the Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) on Tuesday saying it offers Australian business customers a range of cloud services from consultancy, advisory, migration, managed services, as well as security and risk solutions.

Under the new SCA, Optus will build a dedicated business unit that works with AWS Professional Services, a specialist team of cloud experts, to provide customers with an improved path to build new applications on AWS, and ability to scale faster as they move to the cloud.

The deal will see Optus offer its customers a range of differentiated cloud services such as VMWare Cloud on AWS, SAP on AWS, as well as provide migration support for workloads “to help ensure a smooth transition to the cloud”.

Optus announced that as part of its commitment to its customers’ success and upskilling its workforce, it has launched the Optus Cloud Academy, which will provide training for an estimated 2,000 employees with AWS cloud skills and plans to achieve more than 600 AWS accreditations over the next three years.

The specialised internal program will train Optus staff with skills across cloud, Internet of Things, data and analytics, security, 5G, and edge computing through a mix of formal training courses, tailored immersion days, hackathons, and game days.

Chris Mitchell, Optus Business Managing Director, said the collaboration with AWS will help empower businesses to lower costs, innovate faster, and increase their agility.

“This collaboration significantly boosts Optus’ cloud offering and provides an elevated experience for our customers. As businesses rapidly migrate from legacy infrastructures to the cloud, the combined power of AWS’ leading cloud services and Optus’ network and connectivity capabilities will deliver a world-class, scalable solution to help customers to future-proof their business, and remain competitive,” Mitchell said.

“Optus’ integrated sales, advisory, and consulting approach allows us to offer businesses an end-to-end range of innovative digital transformation tools. As part of our strategy to become a leading supplier of integrated cloud solutions in Australia, we are excited to double down on our relationship with AWS and bring Optus’ network reach and our proven expertise in cloud, security, and data to more Australian organisations.”

Adam Beavis, Managing Director for AWS’ Commercial Sector in Australia and New Zealand said, “This industry collaboration with Optus will help accelerate the adoption of cloud for businesses and address their priorities to drive efficiencies, lower costs, and deliver the type of agility they need.

“Customers will benefit from Optus’ deep cloud expertise and expansive network, and AWS’ highly reliable and scalable cloud platform that powers hundreds of thousands of businesses across Australia.

“Cloud skills play an increasingly important role in Australia’s workforce and investing in training and digital skills will provide a foundation that will accelerate the Optus’ own digital transformation, drive quicker customer outcomes, and help employees enhance their overall career potential.”

Optus says the agreement further strengthens its existing relationship with AWS as an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner to deliver comprehensive cloud products and services to customers in Australia.