Client Profile
Our Florida-based client offers comprehensive, nationwide specialty pharmacy services and digital health technology solutions for patients with chronic, difficult-to-treat conditions. Backed by private equity, our client ranks on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. Its success stems from a tailored approach to a wide range of therapeutic categories, improving health and empowering patients to experience a higher quality of life.
Business Challenge
With a business growth model focused on pharmacy acquisitions spread across various locations, Auxis had previously helped the client replace legacy, on-premises technology with flexible, scalable, cost-effective computing power in an Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environment.
Once in AWS, however, the client still lacked the specialized skills it needed to keep up with the latest upgrades to AWS technologies and maintain a cost-effective approach to managing its cloud environment. New acquisitions and business growth continued to increase its AWS costs without the desired efficiencies and controls in place.
Tapped to provide AWS managed services for the client, Auxis proactively looked for ways to optimize cost management for the cloud environment.
Solution & Approach
Recognized as one of the 20 Most Promising AWS Solutions Providers by CIO Review magazine, Auxis’ deep expertise in AWS enabled it to identify multiple cost savings opportunities that included the following strategies:
1. Implementing a new flexible pricing model: the AWS Compute Savings Plan
This new plan offered a significant discount based on committed spend instead of the traditional committed utilization approach. The new plan created inherent flexibility for the client’s organic growth by reducing costs across a multitude of AWS compute usage – thus making the incorporation of new acquisitions more cost-effective.
Previously, the client operated under a Standard Reserved Instances plan that discounted on-demand costs but charged for every specific server placed on the cloud. Auxis helped the client determine an annual commitment that made sense based on historic use, server requirements, and future growth.
2. Leveraging AWS Lambda to automatically shut down servers during non-operating hours
Since AWS costs involve actual usage, Auxis analyzed business requirements and workloads to identify services that could be shut down during non-operating hours. Auxis then implemented a fully automated auto-scale solution using AWS Lambda to shut down servers when they aren’t required – reducing usage from around-the-clock to 50 hours per week for some servers.
3. Implementing AWS FSx service and moving away from traditional Windows Server to File Server as a Service
Putting the client’s best interests ahead of its own, Auxis implemented AWS FSx service -reducing file server costs anden hancing performance and security.
While Auxis continues to manage the AWS cloud environment as part of its Cloud Managed Services, AWS FSx now performs time-consuming administrative tasks like software configuration, patching, and backups that were previously handled as part of Auxis’ managed services for the client.
4. Leveraging AWS tagging and resource management to provide better visibility and insight into AWS cost drivers
When companies start growing their environments in the cloud, it’s easy to lose track of what they’re using, who owns it, and most importantly, how much it might cost and whose budget will be used to pay the invoice when it arrives.
Effective management of cloud resources requires a tagging strategy that can be implemented uniformly across the organization to filter resources by type, application, owner/cost center, and any combination thereof. By implementing AWS tagging and resource management, Auxis was able to build reporting, implement targeted alerting, and expose all resources in real-time dashboards to provide better visibility and insight on how cost was allocated. This allowed the client and Auxis to proactively identify and execute cost optimization strategies in an ongoing basis.
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Results
Through all these strategies, Auxis helped the client significantly reduce its AWS cloud spend and achieved the following results:
- 66% Reduction in AWS Cloud Costs – Implementing the AWS Compute Savings Plan and the automated auto-scale solution generated an initial cost savings of 66%.