Overview
AWS consulting for organisations that need the cloud to connect to everything else
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is Amazon's cloud platform: compute, storage, databases, analytics, AI services and the security and management tools around them, billed by usage. Most of our AWS work is for Australian mid-market organisations that run their customer, service and content platforms in SaaS, such as Salesforce, Atlassian and Adobe, and use AWS for the workloads and data that sit between them.
Great Minds is a Sydney-based systems integrator. We have delivery experience moving workloads to AWS, modernising applications, building data platforms, and setting up the accounts, access and cost controls that keep an AWS estate manageable. Because we also implement the SaaS platforms, we design the AWS side and the integrations together, so data doesn't get copied into one more silo.
Typical starting points are an ageing on-premise or co-located server estate, a data warehouse that can't keep up with reporting, an AWS account that grew without guardrails and now has a cost or security problem, or a large media or data store that needs to feed another platform, for example images in Amazon S3 that should flow into Adobe Experience Manager Assets.
AWS services
AWS services we deliver
AWS provides the building blocks; results depend on how they're configured, governed and connected to the rest of your systems. These are the four areas we deliver, on their own or as one program.
How we deliver
An AWS program, from assessment to run
Every AWS engagement follows the same four stages, whether it's a single workload or a whole data centre. We agree scope, success measures and a price at the end of the assessment, before any build starts.
An inventory of applications, data, dependencies and costs, with a recommendation for each workload and a business case. We also map which SaaS platforms each workload exchanges data with.
Accounts, networking, identity, logging, backup and region choices, designed against your security and compliance requirements and documented for your team.
Workloads move in waves with test migrations, reconciliation and a rollback plan. AI agents do much of the repetitive mapping and checking; our consultants own the design and sign off every change.
Monitoring, patching and cost reviews after go-live, rightsizing and savings plans where usage is steady, then hand-over to your team with runbooks, or ongoing support from us.
Australian considerations
What Australian organisations need to check
AWS runs two infrastructure regions in Australia: Asia Pacific (Sydney) and Asia Pacific (Melbourne). Using both lets you keep production and disaster recovery onshore. Content stays in the regions you choose, but a few global services, such as IAM and CloudFront, aren't tied to one region, so we document which services you use and where their data is processed.
Under the Privacy Act, APP 8 applies when personal information is disclosed overseas and APP 11 requires reasonable steps to secure it. AWS publishes IRAP assessments at the PROTECTED level for a large set of services in the Sydney region; check the current services-in-scope list for the services you plan to use.
APRA-regulated entities should treat a core AWS arrangement as a likely material service provider under CPS 230, which has applied since 1 July 2025, and evidence information security controls under CPS 234. If you run scoring or AI models on AWS that make or substantially help make decisions about people, the Privacy Act's automated-decision transparency rules apply from 10 December 2026; our guide to automated decisions and the Privacy Act explains what to disclose.
AWS list prices are in US dollars. For Australian accounts, AWS Australia bills credit card payers in Australian dollars by default and lets invoice payers choose AUD or USD.
FAQ
AWS questions
Can our data stay in Australia on AWS?
Yes, for most services. You choose the Sydney or Melbourne region for each workload, and data you store there stays there unless you move it. We check every service in your design for regional availability and for any global features, and set guardrails that block resources in other regions.
How long does an AWS migration take?
It depends on the number of workloads, how tightly they depend on each other and how much modernisation you want along the way. A handful of applications can move in weeks; a full data centre exit is usually a program of several waves. You get a scoped plan and price after the assessment.
Can we pay for AWS in Australian dollars?
AWS prices its services in US dollars, but AWS Australia bills credit card payers in Australian dollars by default and lets invoice payers choose between AUD and USD. Check the option on your account in the AWS Billing console.
How does AWS fit with APRA CPS 230 and CPS 234?
If you're APRA-regulated, a core AWS arrangement is likely to be a material service provider under CPS 230, so it needs a register entry, contract review and business continuity testing. CPS 234 needs your information security controls on AWS to be documented and tested. We design the landing zone with that evidence in mind.
Can you connect AWS to Salesforce, Atlassian or Adobe?
Yes. That's most of our AWS work: moving data between AWS and platforms such as Salesforce, Atlassian and Adobe through their APIs, for reporting, AI or media workflows. Our Integration Hub includes a template for loading media from Amazon S3 into Adobe Experience Manager.
Do you only work on AWS?
No. We also deliver on Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, and many clients use more than one. We recommend the platform that fits your existing contracts, skills and applications, then design the integrations so the choice doesn't lock your data in.
Case studies
Migration and integration work from our case studies
These projects show how we run migrations, integrations and platform rollouts. Ask us for examples closest to your own AWS workloads.
Insights
Cloud, migration and integration insights
Atlassian Cloud pricing in AUD: licences, tiers and metered AIWhat Atlassian Cloud costs in AUD after the October 2026 price rise, plus GST, plan tiers and how Rovo credits and automation are billed from 3 December.
Atlassian Data Center to Cloud: the Australian migration guideAtlassian Data Center goes read-only on 28 March 2029. Key dates, Australian data residency, CPS 230 and privacy checks, and a migration plan.
Moving work management to the cloud: a guide for Australian organisationsData Center end of life, data residency in Sydney, IRAP, Cloud plans and AI, and how to plan the move.