Cost Optimisation Strategies for AWS Users: Maximising Your Cloud Investment

by Ibukun Fashina

Introduction

In today's cloud computing landscape, cost optimisation has become a focus for organisations that use AWS services. According to a study by Everest Group, a staggering 38% of organisations experience more than 30% of their cloud spend being wasted due to overprovisioning of resources, inefficient usage, and a lack of cost optimisation measures. This wasted spending not only impacts profitability but also hinders innovation and agility, making cost optimisation imperative for businesses of all sizes.

What is Cost Optimisation?

Cost optimisation is a continual process of refinement and improvement throughout a workload's life cycle. A cost-optimised workload fully utilises all resources, achieves an outcome at the lowest possible price point, and meets your functional requirements.?

By optimising your AWS costs, you can reap several benefits, including:

1. Saving Money

Cost optimisation helps you get the most value out of your AWS cloud investment by reducing unnecessary spending. This translates to direct cost savings and improved profitability for your business.

2. Improving Agility

With optimised costs, you can scale your applications cost-effectively, enabling greater agility and responsiveness to changing business needs. This agility is crucial in today's fast-paced digital landscape, where businesses must adapt quickly to stay competitive.

3. Gaining Visibility

Cost optimisation provides better visibility into your resource allocation, allowing you to make informed decisions and identify areas for further optimisation. This visibility empowers you to make data-driven decisions and continuously refine your cloud strategy.

How to Effectively Optimise Your AWS Costs

Here are seven proven strategies:

1. Right-Sizing Resources

Continuously monitor your resource usage and adjust instance types, storage, and other services to match your actual workload requirements. This can help avoid over-provisioning and reduce costs. For example, if you have an EC2 instance running at 30% CPU utilisation, you could downsize to a smaller instance type to save on costs. Tools like AWS Cost Explorer and AWS Trusted Advisor can assist in identifying right-sizing opportunities.

2. Leverage Reserved Instances (RIs)?

For your steady-state workloads, consider purchasing Reserved Instances. RIs offer significant discounts compared to On-Demand pricing, usually around 30-75%, depending on the term and payment option. By committing to a reserved capacity, you can optimise costs for predictable workloads. Additionally, consider exploring AWS Instance Scheduler to automatically start and stop instances based on a schedule, further reducing costs for non-production workloads.

3. Use Spot Instances

If your workloads can tolerate interruptions, take advantage of Spot Instances. Spot Instances are spare compute capacity offered at significant discounts, up to 90%, compared to On-Demand prices. They're ideal for batch processing, data analysis, and other fault-tolerant workloads. AWS Spot Instance Advisor can help identify which instances and applications are suitable for Spot usage.

4. Setup Auto Scaling

Implement Auto Scaling groups to automatically scale your resources up and down, based on demand. This ensures you're only paying for resources you need and can handle traffic spikes without manual intervention, optimising costs while maintaining performance. Utilise AWS Auto Scaling, with Elastic Load Balancing and Amazon CloudWatch to seamlessly scale your resources based on defined metrics.

5. Remove Idle Resources

Regularly review your AWS resources and terminate or downsize any unused or underutilised instances, databases, storage, or other services. Idle resources can quickly accumulate unnecessary costs, so it's crucial to identify and remove them promptly. AWS Trusted Advisor and AWS Cost Explorer can help identify idle and underutilised resources that are ripe for optimisation.

6. Constant Team Education

Educate your teams on AWS cost management best practices, and encourage a culture of cost-consciousness. Ensure your teams understand the importance of terminating or deleting resources they no longer need, especially for test purposes, to avoid unnecessary costs. Implement tagging and cost allocation practices to track resource usage and associate costs with specific teams or projects, fostering accountability. To ensure your team is well educated, you can check out some cost management courses on CIL Academy.?

7. Cost-Aware Architectures

Design cost-aware architectures using AWS Well-Architected Framework principles. Consider factors like elasticity, scalability, and multi-tenancy to build efficient and cost-effective solutions from the ground up. Embrace serverless architectures (e.g., AWS Lambda, AWS Fargate) where possible, as they can significantly reduce operational overhead and costs compared to traditional server-based architectures.

At Cecure Intelligence Limited, we're a proud AWS Partner dedicated to helping you get the most out of your cloud investment.?

We're offering three key resources to start your cost-optimisation journey:

1. Well-Architected Review

Our certified AWS experts will carry out a comprehensive Well-Architected Review of your AWS infrastructure. This review will identify potential cost-saving opportunities and ensure your architecture is optimised for performance, security, and cost-effectiveness. By following AWS best practices, you can achieve a more efficient and cost-effective cloud infrastructure.

2. Payments in Naira

You can now pay for your AWS services in Naira . You can also enjoy the benefits of paying in advance to enjoy significant savings and avoid foreign exchange rate fluctuations. This payment option provides cost predictability and helps mitigate currency risks.

3. Cloud Platform Operations

Our team of cloud platform operations specialists can help you implement cost-saving strategies, automate tasks, and provide ongoing monitoring and optimisation to ensure you're getting the most value from your AWS resources. With their expertise, you can continuously refine and optimise your cloud environment for maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Conclusion

Optimising your AWS costs is an ongoing process that requires diligence and a strategic approach. By implementing the strategies outlined here and taking advantage of the resources we offer at Cecure Intelligence Limited, you can maximise your cloud investment, reduce unnecessary spending, and gain greater control over your AWS costs.

You can start your journey towards cost optimisation by booking a consultation here with our experts right away. We'll ensure your AWS infrastructure is optimised for peak performance and cost-effectiveness, enabling you to focus on driving business growth and innovation while staying lean and agile in the ever-evolving digital landscape.