# When to Hire an AWS Consultant — Trigger Scorecard

Score each trigger 0 (no) / 1 (emerging) / 2 (acute). Sum ≥ 6 → shortlist external help this quarter.

| # | Trigger | Score |
|---|---------|-------|
| 1 | Bill growth ≫ user/revenue growth | |
| 2 | GenAI / Bedrock production path unclear | |
| 3 | Reliability / scaling incidents | |
| 4 | Compliance / customer security questionnaire gap | |
| 5 | No infra owner | |
| 6 | Migration / dual-run underway | |
| 7 | Containers/serverless greenfield without playbook | |
| 8 | Multi-region / global expansion | |
| 9 | Diligence / fundraising architecture review | |
| 10 | Multi-account sprawl | |
| 11 | Legacy modernization stall | |
| 12 | Team overloaded; shipping blocked on AWS depth | |

## When not to hire

Static workload + deep internal AWS talent + time to learn → peer review may beat a full engagement.