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Maximizing Your Year-End Cloud Committed Spend: A Practical Guide

Don't let your cloud committed spend go to waste. This guide provides actionable steps to optimize your remaining cloud spend before year-end, including marketplace strategies and real-world success stories.

Understanding Cloud Committed Spend

What Is It?

  • Long-term agreements (typically 3 years) with major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
  • Commitment to spend a predetermined amount in exchange for discount
  • May follow a "use it or lose it" model with limited rollover options

Why It Matters Now

  • Year-end approaching
  • Unused credits may be forfeited
  • Opportunity to convert unused spend into immediate business value by purchasing software and services via marketplace

Quick Assessment Checklist

  • Compare your total cloud spend against this year's commitment to identify any gaps
  • Calculate your exact remaining balance that needs to be used
  • Review your contract end date
  • Understand if unused funds can roll over - check your contract's specific terms and conditions
  • Review your current cloud services usage and identify areas where you could expand or upgrade
  • Look through the marketplace for software purchases that could enhance your current infrastructure
  • Consider bringing in professional services to support evaluation and adoption.
  • Evaluate if you need implementation support to deploy new services or migrate existing workloads

What Can You Do Now?

Step 1. Conduct a Spend Analysis

  • Review current usage patterns
  • Identify unused allocations
  • Calculate projected year-end balance
  • Determine "use it or lose it" deadline

Step 2. Leverage the Cloud Marketplace

Available Purchase Options:

  • Software subscriptions
  • Assessment services
  • Proof of concept evaluations
  • Implementation services

Key Benefits:

  • Frictionless transactions
  • No additional agreements needed
  • Immediate deployment access
  • Counts toward committed spend

Success Stories

Case Study 1: Red Hat Ansible on Google Cloud

  • The customer faced a need for Ansible automation but had exhausted their 2024 budget
  • By leveraging expiring Google Cloud credits, they could deploy Ansible immediately without impacting the current budget
  • This solution not only prevented a months-long delay but also accelerated their modernization timeline, allowing them to begin realizing automation benefits immediately

Case Study 2: Red Hat OpenShift Services on AWS

  • The customer faced a lengthy and complex procurement process to onboard us as a services partner, which equired multiple approvals and legal reviews
  • By redirecting the purchase through AWS Marketplace, we simplified the entire transaction and leveraged existing committed spend before expiration
  • This approach eliminated the need for additional contracts and procurement cycles, while ensuring their committed cloud spend was used prior to year-end.

Best Practices for Managing Your Cloud Investment

  • Monitor monthly spend patterns and marketplace usage to maintain accurate forecasts
  • Review commitment progress quarterly to optimize your investment strategy
  • Plan major purchases in advance to align with business needs and commitment cycles

Getting Started

Ready to optimize your cloud committed spend? Our team is here to help. Contact Us Today

Related: Join our "Strategies for Maximizing Cloud Spend Before Year-End" webinar on November 21st. Register Here.