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Cover image for Day22: Cloud Commitments Don’t Save Money — Management Does
Ibrahim S
Ibrahim S

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Day22: Cloud Commitments Don’t Save Money — Management Does

It’s a Cloud Commitment Management & Optimization framework a management discipline that focuses on long-term cloud resource usage commitment management and optimization to cut costs with minimal risk.

  1. Reserved Instances concepts
  2. Savings Plans / Committed Use Discounts
  3. Commitment planning strategies
  4. Coverage vs utilization
  5. Risk management in commitments
  6. Multi-account commitment sharing
  7. Break-even analysis
  8. Commitment monitoring
  9. Commitment optimization review
  10. Midpoint assessment

Cloud providers give you steep discounts if you agree to use their services. However, there are savings only if these commitments are managed.

It applies to the whole lifecycle of commitments like:

  • Reserved Instances
  • It Savings Plans/Committed Use Discounts

Commitment Planning Strategies
Only commit to workloads that run all the time.
Avoid committing for workloads that spike or change often.

Coverage vs Utilization

Coverage: How much of your cloud usage gets a discount

Utilization: How much of what you bought is actually used

👉 Buying discounts you don’t use doesn’t save money.

Risk Management in Commitments

Reduce risk by:

  • Committing for shorter periods
  • Committing only part of your usage
  • Choosing flexible commitment options

Multi-Account Commitment Sharing

Share commitments across teams or accounts so unused capacity in one place can be used in another.

Break-Even Analysis

Know how long it takes before a commitment becomes cheaper than pay-as-you-go pricing.

Commitment Monitoring

  • Continuously check:
  • Are commitments being used?
  • Are any expiring soon?
  • Has usage changed?

Commitment Optimization Reviews

Regular check-ins to adjust commitments when architecture, traffic, or business needs change.

Midpoint Assessment
A halfway review to fix problems early instead of discovering losses at the end of the term.

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