WWT’s AWS Optimization and Licensing Assessment (OLA) can benefit retail companies as they navigate their cloud journey and optimize costs:

1. Resource Optimization:

• The OLA employs a tool-based discovery approach to analyze resource utilization. For retail workloads, this means understanding the compute resources needed for applications like inventory management, point-of-sale systems, and customer analytics.
• By determining the right mix of on-demand and spot instances, as well as considering Bring Your Own Licenses (BYOL) and license-included instances, retail organizations can tailor their environment for cost-effectiveness.

1. Cost Reduction:

• Running workloads in the cloud requires fewer instances and licenses due to the elasticity of the cloud. Optimizing cloud infrastructure is key to reducing costs.
• The OLA offers 60% greater license efficiency, helping retail companies avoid overprovisioning third-party licensing. Recommendations from the assessment guide instance configurations to minimize licensing costs.
• By adapting their on-premises licensing strategy based on OLA insights, retail organizations can achieve a smoother cloud migration.

1. Flexible Licensing Options:

• The OLA models both dedicated and license-included environments, allowing retailers to pay for what they use. This flexibility maximizes value and optimizes cloud compute and licensing costs.
• Modeling licensing scenarios, including license-included or BYOL instances, enables retail companies to manage seasonal workloads and experiment agilely.

1. Covered Workloads:

• The OLA covers Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server, VMWare, and Oracle on AWS. Research indicates that when migrating to AWS, retail customers can reduce Windows Server license costs by an average of 77% and SQL Server license costs by an average of 45%.
• By leveraging the OLA’s recommendations, manufacturing organizations can make informed decisions about the optimal version (Standard or Enterprise) to support their workloads.*

In summary, the AWS OLA empowers retail companies to assess their licensing requirements, optimize resource utilization, and make cost-effective decisions during their cloud journey on AWS.

*Source: AWS Optimization and Licensing Assessment | Amazon Web Services