Building business in the cloud: Five AWS tips to ensure your growth doesn’t break the bank

Quick summary: AWS cost optimisation made simple

If your business is using Amazon Web Services (AWS), it’s crucial to keep costs under control. AWS is great for helping your company grow, but without careful management, cloud expenses can creep up. Here are the key things you need to know:

• Right-size your resources: Don’t pay for more than you need. Make sure your cloud setup fits your business requirements.
• Use long-term pricing plans: If you know what you’ll need over time, AWS offers discounts for committing to certain services for a year or more.
• Scale smartly: AWS lets you automatically add or remove resources based on demand, so you’re not wasting money during slow times.
• Turn off what you don’t use: Idle systems can drain your budget. Make sure unused resources are shut down when not needed.
• Track your spending: AWS gives you tools to monitor costs and avoid surprises on your bill.

To find out more about optimising costs in AWS and to access Zen support for your business, register for our free Cost Optimisation Immersion Day.

Why choose AWS for your business?

More and more businesses are using cloud services to power their growth, and AWS is the top choice for businesses looking to scale effortlessly. Whether you’re a start-up or an established business, AWS provides the tools you need to boost efficiency and drive innovation.

But one thing that concerns many businesses is cost. Quite rightly too.

Moving to AWS can bring many benefits, but if you’re not careful it can also cause your costs to spiral out of control. In this article, we’ll look at five key strategies to optimise your costs in AWS, but first we’ll examine some of the reasons why you should choose AWS in the first place.

The benefits of moving to AWS

AWS offers a broad range of benefits that help businesses grow and adapt, including:

• Scalability and flexibility: One of AWS’s standout features is the ability to scale up or down in response to business demands. Whether you’re experiencing a sudden surge in traffic or scaling back during slower periods, AWS can adjust your resources, ensuring that you only pay for what you need.
• Innovation on demand: With AWS, businesses have access to a rich ecosystem of tools and services, including cutting-edge technologies such as AI, machine learning, and data analytics. These tools help companies to innovate quickly, build smarter applications, and make intelligent data-driven decisions that boost efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Enhanced security: AWS offers a comprehensive set of security features, including encryption, firewalls, and monitoring tools that safeguard your data and ensure compliance with standards such as GDPR. This level of security is often difficult to achieve with solutions hosted in your own data centre.

The key to success in AWS lies in a proactive approach that maximises value while keeping unnecessary expenses at bay. Here are some tried and tested AWS cost optimisation strategies to help you do just that.

Five key strategies for AWS cost optimisation

1. Right-sizing your resources:

AWS provides a variety of instance types, each suited for specific workloads. By regularly reviewing and “right-sizing” your instances, you can ensure that you’re not overpaying for resources you don’t need. Right-sizing involves analysing your usage patterns and selecting the most cost-efficient instances that meet your performance requirements.

For a more in-depth analysis, AWS offers tools like AWS Compute Optimizer, which automatically assesses your resource usage and recommends the best instance type based on historical data. This tool can help you ensure that your workloads are running on the optimal instances, saving costs while maintaining performance.

Jargon buster: What is an instance?

In cloud computing, an ‘instance’ refers to a virtual server that runs your applications. Think of it as a slice of a physical server, but instead of managing the hardware, you’re renting computer power from AWS. Instances can be scaled up or down based on your needs, meaning you only use (and pay for) what you need at any given time.

2. Use reserved instances and savings plans:

If your business has predictable workloads, committing to Reserved Instances (RIs) or Savings Plans can provide substantial savings compared to on-demand pricing. These options allow you to commit to using specific resources over a one- or three-year period at a lower rate, locking in discounts if your usage is consistent.

Savings Plans offer two primary options: Compute Savings Plans, which provide the most flexibility across instance types and regions, and EC2 Instance Savings Plans, which offer higher discounts but apply to specific instance families within a region. For Reserved Instances, you can choose between Standard (providing the biggest discount), Convertible (offering flexibility in instance changes), and Scheduled (available for specific time windows), making it easy to find a pricing plan that matches your workload patterns.

3. Auto scaling and elasticity:

One of AWS’s most powerful features is Auto Scaling, which automatically adjusts your resources based on real-time demand. This ensures that you’re only paying for what you need during peak times and reduces unnecessary costs during off-peak hours.

AWS Auto Scaling can be adjusted using different scaling policies, such as target tracking scaling, which adjusts resources to maintain a predefined metric (like CPU usage), step scaling, which adds or removes resources in increments based on changes in demand, and scheduled scaling, which automatically scales your resources based on a predefined schedule.

4. Shut down idle resources:

Non-production environments like development or testing often run 24/7, even when they’re not in use. Shutting down these idle resources when they’re not being used can save a significant amount on monthly bills.

You can automate this process with AWS services such as AWS Lambda and AWS CloudWatch. Lambda lets you trigger functions that automatically turn off unused resources based on custom events or schedules, while CloudWatch can monitor resource activity and trigger shutdowns when specific thresholds are met. By using these automation tools, you ensure that no unnecessary resources are running during off-hours.

5. Monitor and analyse AWS costs:

AWS offers tools like Cost Explorer and Trusted Advisor that provide detailed insights into your cloud usage patterns and offer cost-saving recommendations. By using these tools, you can monitor real-time spending, set custom cost alerts, and make informed decisions about your usage.

AWS Cost Explorer allows you to create detailed, custom reports that visualise your cost and usage data over time. It also offers forecasting features, which predict future spending based on past trends, helping you plan more effectively. AWS Trusted Advisor gives you actionable recommendations across cost optimisation, performance, security, and fault tolerance, ensuring that your cloud setup is both cost-efficient and robust.

Join us for a deeper dive: AWS Cost Optimisation Immersion Day

Cost optimisation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. We’re here to support you every step of the way, which is why we’re hosting an AWS Cost Optimisation Immersion Day, where our cloud experts will guide you through best practices and help you develop a tailored strategy to reduce your AWS spend without compromising performance.

Register now for our Cost Optimisation Immersion Day and take control of your cloud spending.