Maximizing Your Year-End Cloud Committed Spend: A Practical Guide
Ross Beard
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2 minute read
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.