The Challenge

The company's AWS journey began like many fast-growing SaaS operations: engineer-first architecture with minimal cost controls, and procurement strategies that hadn't kept pace with infrastructure scaling. By the time Redress was engaged, their annual AWS spend had reached approximately €6.2 million—but their commercial terms told a different story.

Three critical inefficiencies defined the problem:

  • No Enterprise Discount Programme (EDP). The company was paying standard on-demand pricing across the vast majority of their compute workloads. An EDP would have locked in volume-based discounts immediately, but it required supplier-side negotiation and a multi-year financial commitment.
  • 68% of compute running on On-Demand. Infrastructure analysis revealed that over two-thirds of EC2 and Fargate usage was predictable and baseline in nature—ideal candidates for Savings Plans. Yet the company's technical teams, fearing inflexibility, had never investigated commitment models.
  • Business-tier support at full cost. AWS support charges were accruing at standard Business tier rates (approximately €180,000 per year) on a growing spend base, with no negotiated cap or discount arrangement.

Combined, these three factors represented structural cost waste. The company was profitable and growing rapidly, but they were subsidizing AWS commercial margins unnecessarily.

The Approach

Redress designed a multi-lever commercial optimization strategy, coordinating with both the company's finance and engineering leadership to balance cost reduction with operational flexibility.

1. Enterprise Discount Programme (EDP) Negotiation

The first lever was establishing an EDP. AWS EDPs typically require a minimum three-year commitment on a specified annual spend baseline. Redress conducted a 12-month consumption analysis to establish a credible baseline (approximately €5.8M per year) and negotiated an 18% volume discount applied across the entire programme term. At the company's growth trajectory, this was conservative but achievable without technical risk.

The EDP locked in €2.1M in cumulative savings across the three-year term (18% × €5.8M × 3 years = €3.132M theoretical; realistic savings accounting for usage variance and new services: €2.1M).

2. On-Demand to Savings Plans Conversion

The second lever addressed the 68% of compute running on On-Demand. Redress recommended Savings Plans rather than Reserved Instances for baseline workloads, prioritizing operational flexibility over rigid capacity locks. Savings Plans offer 30–50% discounts on On-Demand rates but allow customers to move across instance families and regions without penalty—critical for a company expecting continued infrastructure evolution.

The company committed to Savings Plans covering 68% of its EC2 and Fargate baseline (approximately €3.6M of annual on-demand spend), achieving an average 40% discount on that cohort. Over three years, this converted €1.7M in costs from full On-Demand rates to discounted Savings Plans pricing.

"We knew our AWS spend was growing faster than our control mechanisms, but we didn't have the vendor expertise to negotiate at AWS's level. Redress showed us that we were leaving millions on the table with no operational downside. The Savings Plans approach was especially valuable—we get the savings without losing the flexibility our engineers need."

— VP Engineering (anonymised)

3. Support Tier Renegotiation

The third lever was AWS support. Standard Business support tier is charged as a percentage of monthly spend (typically 3–7% depending on volume), which meant the company's support bill was creeping upward every month. Redress negotiated a custom support agreement, converting the percentage-based model to a fixed annual cap—approximately €50,000 per year, down from the projected trajectory. Over three years, this yielded €0.8M in avoided escalation costs.

The Outcome

The three-year EDP was signed in Q2 2024 with an effective date of Q1 2024, providing immediate retroactive benefits. Implementation occurred in phases:

  • EDP + Volume Discount: €2.1M savings (locked-in 18% discount on committed baseline)
  • Savings Plans Conversion: €1.7M savings (40% discount on 68% of baseline compute)
  • Support Tier Restructuring: €0.8M savings (fixed annual cap vs. percentage escalation)
  • Total: €4.6M over three years

The company maintained full operational flexibility. Engineers continued to scale workloads without restriction, and the Savings Plans model meant no stranded costs if infrastructure topology changed. The company's AWS bill remained controllable and predictable, supporting both finance and engineering strategic planning.

Key Takeaways

1. Scale and Inefficiency Often Coexist. The company's rapid growth meant AWS infrastructure became business-critical but commercial terms remained reactive. EDP negotiation should occur as a formal procurement activity, not an afterthought.

2. Savings Plans Offer Flexibility Where Reserved Instances Limit It. Many teams avoid commitment models due to fear of inflexibility. Savings Plans bridge this gap—30–50% discounts with cross-family and cross-region portability make them ideal for dynamic, growing workloads.

3. Support Costs Require Active Management. Percentage-based support tiers create open-ended escalation risk. Negotiate fixed caps or custom arrangements when spend reaches significant scale; AWS is receptive to these discussions with enterprise customers.

4. Multi-Lever Optimization Compounds Savings. EDP discounts, Savings Plans, and support restructuring are independent levers, but their combined effect is material. A 3–5% discount on EDP, a 40% discount on Savings Plans, and a 50% reduction in support escalation risk together justify a formal vendor negotiation engagement.

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