Control Your AWS Commitments with Reserved Instances and Savings Plans Group Sharing

When it comes to cloud financial management, maintaining both optimal efficiency and clarity across diverse business units can often feel like balancing on a tightrope. For organizations leveraging AWS, this scenario is all too familiar. Enter the innovative solution offered by AWS: Reserved Instances and Savings Plans (RISP) Group Sharing, a game-changer in financial operations.

At AWS, Reserved Instances and Savings Plans are instrumental in securing the best discount rates by optimizing benefits organization-wide. Yet, this approach often inadvertently misaligns with the internal dynamics of many large enterprises. This is where the pain points emerge, as the teams making the investment do not always reap the direct benefits, leading to manual chargeback efforts and disruptions in ROI tracking. But with the launch of RISP Group Sharing, the future of efficient, accountable AWS cost management looks brighter than ever.

The Challenge: When Cost Savings Don’t Align with Business Structure

Imagine your marketing team invests in a three-year Reserved Instance, planning to power their campaign operations cost-effectively. Theoretically, this is perfect. However, AWS’s long-standing framework prioritizes the account poised to receive the most benefit, potentially diverting those savings to another unit — say, your development team. Consequently, this necessitates cumbersome chargeback processes to trace benefits back to where they belong.

For years, enterprise customers have sought a solution, as the drawbacks of this traditional model are profound:

• Internal Accountability Challenges: Teams struggle to demonstrate their return on investment.
• Complex Budget Allocation: Organizations with grant-specific funding, particularly in the public sector and education, face hurdles in retaining funds within designated projects.
• Regulatory Constraints: Multinational entities must adhere to legal and geographic cost allocations.
• Manual Workarounds: Many resort to makeshift solutions and third-party tools for cost allocation.

Introducing RISP Group Sharing: Commitment Control That Matches Your Business

AWS’s new RISP Group Sharing functionality finally addresses these challenges by allowing customers to tailor how Reserved Instances and Savings Plans are shared and executed across their organization, aligning with actual business structures — whether those are business units, projects, regions, or other logical groupings.

Key Features

• Prioritized Group Sharing: This setup applies benefits first to the designated group accounts, and shares any unused capacity across the organization, ensuring optimal utilization aligned with intended priorities.
• Restricted Group Sharing: With this approach, commitments remain locked within the designated groups, supporting scenarios demanding strict resource isolation.

Key Benefits: Better Control, Better Accountability

RISP Group Sharing offers several compelling advantages:

• Alignment with Business Structure: Use AWS Cost Categories to shape groups mirroring your organizational hierarchy, preventing overlap and confusion.
• Enhanced Internal Cost Management: Directly benefit the workloads of purchasing teams, simplifying ROI reporting and budget accountability.
• Regulatory and Compliance Support: Adhere to geographic, legal, and funding boundaries, keeping commitment benefits confined as necessary.
• Integrated AWS Experience: Seamlessly works with existing AWS management tools, including Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, and Cost and Usage Reports.

Real-World Use Cases: Who Benefits Most

The practical implications of RISP Group Sharing are vast, particularly for:

• Large Enterprises: Able to maintain distinct P&Ls across divisions while capitalizing on shared procurement savings.
• Public Sector Organizations: Ensure funds committed via appropriations are utilized exclusively as intended.
• Educational Institutions: Channel savings to specific research grants or departments with ease, ensuring proper fund accounting.
• Multinational Companies: Manage commitments while respecting geographic constraints and regulations.

How It Works: Simple Setup, Powerful Control

Getting started with RISP Group Sharing involves a straightforward process:

1. Create Cost Categories: Define business groups in the AWS Billing Console using an intuitive interface.
2. Configure Sharing Preferences: Choose between Prioritized or Restricted sharing according to your needs.
3. Preview Impact: Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to foresee changes to your bill.
4. Monitor Utilization: Track usage at the group level in Cost Explorer.

The system adapts using Cost Categories, supporting both current account-based and evolving non-account-based groupings. Users currently on the beta version with Account Tags will enjoy smooth transitions to this new methodology.

Getting Started

Now available for all AWS Organizations in the IAD region, RISP Group Sharing is your key to robust AWS cost management. Here’s how to begin:

• Navigate to the Billing Preferences page in your AWS Billing Console
• Locate “Reserved Instances and Savings Plans discount sharing”
• Follow the guided setup to establish your first Cost Category and select your sharing preferences

For detailed instructions, review our documentation or explore the AWS console directly.

Are you ready to seize greater control over your AWS commitments? Start with RISP Group Sharing today, and optimize your cost-saving investments to fit your business’s unique structure.