Top 15 Strategies for Negotiating Your First AWS Enterprise Agreement

Negotiating your first AWS Enterprise Agreement (often via the Enterprise Discount Program, or EDP) is a high-stakes process. It requires balancing cost savings with contract flexibility to ensure your organization gets maximum value without overcommitting. Below are the top 15 strategies—presented in a Gartner-style advisory tone—for CIOs and procurement leaders to achieve an optimal AWS EA. Each strategy includes actionable insights and examples of its impact on your cloud costs and contract terms.

1. Perform a Comprehensive AWS Usage Assessment

Know your baseline: Thoroughly analyze your current AWS usage and spending patterns across all services. Identify which services (e.g., EC2, S3, RDS) consume the most cost and which are mission-critical. Look for usage variability, such as seasonal spikes or weekly peaks, to ensure any agreement covers your peak demands, not just averages. Also, review spend on AWS Marketplace solutions and third-party tools because these expenditures often count toward your EA commitment.

• Involve engineering and finance teams: Gather a cross-functional team to determine where your AWS spend is going. For example, tag resources by project or department to pinpoint cost drivers.
• Identify waste and inefficiencies: Determine if there are underutilized instances, unattached storage volumes, or over-provisioned resources. This will show your current true need and highlight immediate savings opportunities.
• Assess multi-account usage: If your organization uses multiple AWS accounts or business units, compile a consolidated view. An EA will likely span the whole organization, so you need the big picture of aggregate spending.

Example: A global gaming company conducted an internal cloud audit and discovered dozens of idle test servers running on EC2. By identifying these, the company projected a 15% reduction in baseline spend before negotiations. This more accurate baseline ensured they didn’t negotiate an EA around an inflated usage level, directly preventing wasteful committed spending.

2. Understand AWS Enterprise Agreement Requirements and Benefits

Before entering negotiations, educate your team on AWS’s EA/EDP program basics. AWS typically requires a substantial annual spending commitment (often in the range of $1M per year in many regions to qualify, though some programs consider ~$500k). Make sure you understand what AWS is offering in return:

• Discounts and pricing advantages: The core benefit of an EA is discounted pricing on AWS services in exchange for your commitment. Know that AWS’s discounts can be significant and tiered – higher spending usually unlocks higher discounts. If certain services dominate your spending, AWS might offer service-specific discounts (e.g., extra savings on S3 if you use a ton of storage).
• Support and other perks: Enterprise Agreements can include enhanced support (like a dedicated Technical Account Manager or faster response SLAs) and other incentives like training credits or migration funding. Be aware of these benefits so you can request them. For instance, AWS may include programs for skills training or professional services hours to ensure your success.
• Program terms and criteria: Recognize AWS’s expectations. They often expect a 1–5 year commitment and even growth in your cloud spending over time. AWS might require, for example, a ~20% year-over-year increase in spending in the first year of an EDP. Understanding these criteria helps you align your proposal with AWS’s goals (showing you understand what a successful partnership looks like).

Example: A media company preparing for an AWS EDP noted it already spent close to $1 million across EC2, S3, and RedShift. They highlighted this broad usage footprint and their plans to expand it, signaling to AWS that they meet the program’s criteria and value the predictable budgeting and support that come with an EA. This positioning strengthened their negotiating stance by demonstrating they’re an ideal candidate who understands the mutual benefits.

3. Forecast Future Cloud Growth and Demand

An AWS EA is typically a multi-year commitment, so accurately forecasting your cloud needs is critical. Work with engineering and product teams to project your AWS usage 3–5 years out. This forecast will drive how much you commit and ensure you secure enough capacity at discounted rates:

• Project usage trends: Use historical data and business roadmaps to predict growth. If you expect user traffic to double in two years or plan to launch new products, translate that into cloud infrastructure needs (compute, storage, network, etc.). Leverage AWS Cost Explorer and other analytics to model different scenarios for growth in workloads.
• Factor in upcoming projects and expansions: Include any planned geographic expansions, acquisitions, major marketing campaigns, or product launches in your estimates. These can dramatically increase cloud consumption. For example, entering a new market might spike your use of content delivery (CloudFront) or data analytics services.
• Avoid overcommitment: While you want to cover growth, be realistic. Overly rosy forecasts can lead to overcommitting (a common risk noted by experts) and paying for capacity you don’t use. Identify a range (conservative to aggressive growth) and be prepared to justify the numbers behind your commitment.

Example: An e-commerce platform planned to expand into international markets and projected a 40% annual data storage and traffic increase. By forecasting these needs, they entered negotiations armed with data showing their S3 storage consumption might triple over 3 years. This helped them negotiate storage discounts upfront, knowing their usage was likely to soar while also ensuring they didn’t commit to more than what the business expansion would realistically require.

4. Optimize and Right-Size Your Environment Before Committing

Cost optimization is a prerequisite to negotiation. Before locking in committed spending, consider optimizations you can implement to reduce your AWS bill. It’s far better to enter an EA negotiation with a lean, efficient infrastructure than to commit to covering existing bloat:

• Exhaust other savings measures: AWS offers Savings Plans, Reserved Instances (RIs), and spot instances that might reduce costs without an EA. Also, consider architectural optimizations: can you adopt more serverless services (Lambda, Fargate) or managed services that may reduce costs? One industry guide cautions that an EDP should be a “last resort, not your first choice” for cost savings – you should ensure your usage is efficient.
• Right-size resources: Identify underutilized resources (e.g., oversized EC2 instances running at 10% CPU). Downsize or eliminate waste where possible. The goal is to ensure your committed spend is aligned with necessary usage, not waste. This might involve cleaning up old development environments, optimizing storage classes for infrequently accessed data, or turning off unused services.
• Baseline after optimization: Once optimizations are in place, recalculate your baseline spend and update your forecasts. This gives you a lower starting point for negotiation, yielding direct savings. It also demonstrates to AWS that you are a savvy customer who won’t buy more than needed.

Example: A SaaS startup initially spent $800k/year on AWS but discovered ~$100k of unused resources (forgotten test instances, over-provisioned databases). They implemented a cost optimization sprint and trimmed their run rate to ~$700k. When negotiating the EA, they committed to this optimized spend level. This saved them from committing an extra $100k/year (which would have been pure waste) and gave them leverage to argue that every dollar committed would be efficiently used. In contrast, another company that dived into an EDP without cleanup ended up with many services “bought for cheap” but never utilized – a costly lesson in cloud sprawl.

5. Define Clear Negotiation Objectives and Align Internal Stakeholders

Treat the AWS EA negotiation like a major strategic sourcing project. Set clear goals for what you want to achieve and ensure all internal stakeholders are on the same page:

• Outline your ideal terms: Define your targets for discount percentages, total committed spend, contract length, support level, and any other key terms. For instance, you might set an objective like “at least 15% overall cost savings versus on-demand pricing and inclusion of Enterprise Support at no extra charge.” Having these objectives documented helps guide the negotiation conversation.
• Involve finance, IT, and procurement early: Align the CIO, CFO, and relevant VPs on these objectives. Internal consensus is crucial. Finance will have input on budgeting and cash flow (e.g., preference for certain payment terms), while technical teams can weigh in on support needs and service coverage. A cross-functional team ensures all requirements are considered.
• Research industry benchmarks: Understanding what deals similar organizations have gotten can calibrate your expectations. While AWS doesn’t publish discount rates, you may gather intelligence from industry peers or advisors. Independent licensing experts like Redress Compliance can provide insight into typical AWS “street pricing” and contract terms seen in the market, giving you leverage in knowing what’s achievable.

Example: A biotech firm created a negotiation task force that included IT architects, the CFO’s office, and an external cloud cost consultant. They outlined objectives such as a 3-year term, a 20% overall discount, and a clause for additional discounts if spending exceeded the forecast by more than 10%. They signaled professionalism and readiness by presenting a united front to AWS with a well-researched wish list. During talks, when AWS offered standard terms, the team countered with data from similar enterprises’ agreements (sourced via a third-party advisor) to push for better pricing.

6. Maximize Your Negotiation Leverage with Alternatives and Value Showcases

AWS may be the market leader, but that doesn’t mean you lack leverage. Smart negotiators create leverage by leveraging both competitive pressure and the value of their own business:

• Leverage competition: Don’t shy away from letting AWS know that you have other options. If Azure or Google Cloud (or even an on-premises investment) is on the table, subtly make it known. Signal that while you prefer AWS, you are evaluating others. This can encourage AWS to be more flexible with pricing. Gartner-style advice often calls this the “best alternative to a negotiated agreement” – ensure AWS knows you have one. Even a hint like “we need AWS to match some of the flexibility Azure offers us” can prompt AWS to sharpen their pencil.
• Emphasize your growth and influence: Make sure your business is poised for significant cloud growth; thus, your account’s value to AWS will increase over time. If you expect to double your AWS spend in two years, tell them you’re effectively a future big customer. Also, highlight if your brand or industry position is strategic (e.g., a high-profile logo for AWS’s customer list or a breakthrough use case in healthcare). This “soft leverage” can translate into AWS wanting a success story enough to grant better terms.
• Prepare to walk away (if needed): While hopefully it won’t come to it, be mentally prepared with a Plan B. Showing that you’re willing to say no if terms aren’t acceptable is a powerful negotiation stance. It must be credible, though – don’t bluff about leaving AWS unless you have a viable alternative. Use this sparingly, but keep it in your back pocket as leverage.

Example: During negotiations, a mid-size SaaS provider mentioned that Microsoft had approached them with attractive Azure credits. They compared estimated costs, showing Azure could be 10% cheaper for their workloads. AWS responded by increasing the discount tier in its offer to narrow the gap. Similarly, the SaaS company demonstrated how their usage could triple based on user growth in three years, implying future contracts would be even larger. This combination of competitive pressure and future value convinced AWS to sweeten the current deal, yielding an additional 5% cost savings versus the initial proposal.

7. Set the Right Commitment Level and Spend Thresholds

One of the most critical decisions is how much to spend on AWS annually. This number drives your discount tier but also carries risk if you undershoot. Aim to strike a balance where you capture maximum discounts without overcommitting:

• Commit slightly below forecast: A common best practice is to set your committed spend just below your conservative forecast for usage. This provides a buffer so you don’t fall short. For example, if you project $5M in usage, you might commit to $4.5M. This way, you’ll likely hit the commit (avoiding penalties or true-ups), and any usage above $4.5M still enjoys the discounted rate.
• Understand discount breakpoints: AWS EAs often have tiered discount levels – higher spending commitments unlock better discounts. Identify if a slightly higher commitment would push you into a better discount bracket. Negotiation tip: Sometimes, an extra $100K added to a commitment can yield an additional percentage point of discount, resulting in net savings if you plan to spend that much. Analyze these trade-offs with finance: the goal is to optimize around pricing breaks so you don’t leave easy savings on the table.
• Include all possible spending: Ensure the commitment covers all relevant AWS usage. This can include AWS Marketplace purchases or new projects in the pipeline that will use AWS. The broader the base of spend counted toward your EA, the easier it will be to reach the commitment. Also, consider if you can roll in spend from subsidiaries or affiliates (more on consolidation later).

Example: A retail enterprise calculated a realistic annual AWS spend of $5 million based on growth and optimizations. They proposed a $4.5 million/year commitment, giving themselves a 10% cushion. During talks, AWS showed them that increasing the commitment to $5 million would boost their discount from 12% to 15%. After careful analysis, the company agreed to $5M commit because the higher discount meant they’d save an additional ~$150K/year, and they were confident in hitting that number. This strategy of tuning the commitment to capture a higher discount tier paid off, but they consciously avoided going higher than their data supported.

8. Choose an Optimal Agreement Term Length

AWS Enterprise Agreements can range from 1 to 5 years. Choosing the right term is about balancing deeper discounts vs. flexibility:

• Align term with business outlook: If your industry or company’s tech strategy rapidly evolves, a shorter term (1–2 years) might make sense despite smaller discounts. It lets you recalibrate sooner. However, if you have a stable or steadily growing need for AWS, a 3-year term is common, and a 5-year term can unlock the best pricing for truly long-range plans.
• Weigh discount vs. agility: Longer commitments usually bring higher discounts. For example, AWS may offer a significantly better rate for a 3-year versus a 1-year deal. Calculate the savings over time for each scenario. However, be cautious: a lot can change in 5 years (new technologies, acquisitions, etc.), so only opt for the maximum term if you’re confident in your forecasts and AWS’s strategic fit.
• Include mid-term flexibility if possible: In some cases, you can negotiate provisions like a benchmark or adjustment clause partway through a long-term contract. For instance, a fast-growing company might choose a 3-year term but negotiate a review at the 18-month mark to adjust commitments or discounts if their usage has diverged greatly from the plan. Not all providers allow this, but it’s worth discussing if uncertainty is high.

Example: A rapidly scaling startup initially hesitated to lock in for 3 years. AWS’s standard offer was a 3-year EA with a strong discount. The startup negotiated to include a “growth adjustment” clause after year 2, allowing them to increase their commitment (and get a commensurate discount increase) if their usage far outpaced the original forecast. This gave them confidence to sign a 3-year term, knowing they wouldn’t be stuck with an outdated commitment if their business exploded. Conversely, a large manufacturing firm with very stable IT needs opted for a 5-year term to maximize savings, trading off some flexibility for an additional 5% discount compared to a 3-year deal.

Term Length vs. Flexibility – Quick Comparison:

9. Negotiate Flexible Contract Terms (Termination and Adjustment Clauses)

Cost savings are key, but contractual flexibility can be equally valuable in an EA. Ensure your agreement has provisions that protect you if things change:

• Termination and cancellation terms: Clarify what happens if you need to terminate the agreement early or if a major business change occurs (e.g., divestiture of a unit consuming AWS). If possible, negotiate any penalties for early termination, or at least have a pro-rated payback model. You want to avoid an exorbitant fee if you must exit the deal for unforeseen reasons.
• Adjustment for business changes: Try to include clauses that allow some flexibility to adjust commitments during the term. For example, the ability to reduce your committed spend by a certain percentage if market conditions drastically change, or conversely, to increase commitment (and get better discounts) if your usage grows faster than expected. Some EAs might allow adding incremental commitments (often called “step-up” commitments) mid-term.
• Renewal and extension options: Discuss upfront what happens at the end of the term. A “right to renew” at similar discount levels can be valuable, so you’re not starting from scratch later. Alternatively, consider negotiating a step-up extension – for instance, the right to extend the 3-year deal by an additional 2 years at the same (or improved) discount if you notify AWS one year before expiry. If the relationship is working well, you can continue without full renegotiation.

Example: A media company was concerned about market volatility and insisted on a flexibility clause in its 4-year AWS agreement: if their annual revenue dropped more than 20% due to market downturn, they could reduce their AWS commitment proportionally without penalty. In another case, a tech firm negotiated the ability to add new services to the discount agreement as AWS launches them (so that if they adopt a new AWS service in two years, it would still be covered by the EA discounts). These terms safeguard your company’s interests and prevent the EA from becoming a straitjacket. When one customer’s sector hit a recession, their negotiated terms allowed them to scale down their commitment by 15%, avoiding millions in unused spending obligations. This relief justified pushing for that flexibility during negotiations.

10. Negotiate Favorable Payment Terms

How and when you pay AWS can be an important factor for your finance team. Payment terms in an Enterprise Agreement can sometimes be adjusted to suit your cash flow needs:

• Upfront vs. periodic payments: AWS might prefer upfront or annual payments for committed spend (especially if you opt for an all-upfront commitment to get maximum discount). However, you can request quarterly or monthly billing for the committed amount to spread the cash outlay. This doesn’t usually affect the discount rate, but it can greatly help your budgeting. Aim for terms that align with your revenue cycle – e.g., a retailer might want quarterly payments to match seasonal sales.
• Usage vs. true-up model: Understand if your EA will be billed as you go (and true-up at year-end if you are underpaid) or if you pay a fixed amount regardless of actual usage. If possible, a pay-as-you-go commitment model is more cash-flow friendly (you pay for actual usage each month and only true-up if you fall short annually). Clarify that any over-utilization (spending above your commitment) will be billed at the same discounted rate – you don’t want surprise pricing for overages.
• Incorporate related costs: You might also negotiate to bundle related costs into the EA. For instance, include your AWS Enterprise Support fee within the committed spend or get a discount. If you use many Marketplace software or other AWS add-ons, ensuring these count toward your spending commitment or have aligned billing cycles can simplify finances.

Example: A global retail company with fluctuating cash flow negotiated quarterly billing for their $8M/year commitment instead of paying ~$2M upfront each quarter or $8M upfront annually. This aligned their AWS payments with quarterly revenue peaks and troughs, easing cash management. Another company secured an agreement where their AWS Enterprise Support charges (typically a percentage of spend) were frozen at a fixed rate lower than standard and billed annually, which saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term. These companies improved their cloud economics by tailoring payment terms without even touching service pricing.

11. Push for Maximum Discounts and Incentives

Since cost savings are a top priority, scrutinize every discount lever and incentive AWS can offer:

• Overall discount rate: Negotiate the highest discount percentage off AWS services that your spending can justify. Use your projected spend and growth as bargaining chips. If AWS proposes, say, 10%, counter with a higher number supported by your volume and any competitive offers you have. Ensure the EA specifies that discount and how it applies (often it’s a private pricing term that overrides public prices).
• Tiered and incremental discounts: Structure the deal so that if you spend more, you save more. For example, negotiate tiered rates: 0–$5M at X% off, $5–$7M at X+Y% off, etc. This way, if your usage grows faster, you automatically benefit from better pricing (and AWS gets more business, a win-win).
• Service-specific discounts: If you have one or two AWS services that dominate your costs (e.g., huge data storage on S3 or heavy computing on EC2), ask for additional discounts on those specific services. AWS has some latitude here, especially if a service is a big chunk of your footprint – they might give an extra few percent off on that to close the deal. For instance, a company spending millions on S3 got an extra 5% off S3 beyond the standard EDP discount.
• One-time credits and incentives: As part of first-time EA negotiations, AWS may offer one-time credits (e.g., to offset the cost of migrating workloads to AWS or to kickstart a new project). While an EA mainly gives recurring discounts, don’t overlook asking for upfront credits or promo funds. AWS sometimes provides funding for things like proof-of-concept or transition costs, which can be framed as part of the deal.
• Negotiate support costs: Enterprise Support from AWS can cost 3-5% of your AWS spend. Ensure that your EA addresses support pricing. Negotiating a cap or discount on the support fee might be possible. In one case, a company used data showing low support ticket usage to successfully argue for a reduced support fee, saving $260K on a $3M annual contract. Don’t assume support cost is non-negotiable – it can be, especially if you have a track record of minimal support needs.

Example: A tech enterprise entered talks with a target of a 15% overall discount based on their $10M commitment, plus they requested a 20% discount on their largest cost driver, EC2, which made up 50% of their spend. Through multiple rounds, they secured a deal for 15% off all services and 20% off EC2 and RDS specifically by demonstrating how large and steady their usage of those services would be. Additionally, AWS agreed to $200K in upfront credits to help the company migrate the remaining on-prem database to AWS in the first year. These negotiated perks translated directly to cost savings: the service-specific discounts alone meant about $300K/year saved on EC2 beyond the base discount, and the credits offset migration expenses that would have otherwise hit the IT budget.

12. Ensure Strong SLAs and Support Commitments

Cost isn’t everything—service quality matters, too, especially for enterprise-grade workloads. As part of your EA, pay attention to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and support provisions:

• Validate SLA coverage: AWS’s standard SLAs (uptime guarantees for services like EC2, S3, etc.) should meet your needs, but if you have particularly sensitive applications, you might need stronger commitments. While AWS won’t usually customize core SLA terms for one customer, ensure you know what’s guaranteed and documented. An EA might include a tailored SLA or credit schedule for critical services if standard guarantees are unmet. For example, if downtime severely impacts your business, ask for accelerated support response times or higher credit payouts for breaches.
• Include support level in the contract: Enterprise Agreements often bundle a certain level of support. Enterprise Support (the highest tier) is often expected for large customers – confirm if the cost is included in your committed spend or discounted. If you need a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM) or solution architects from AWS to regularly check in, write that into the agreement. High-touch support can be a critical value-add for large organizations and is negotiable as part of the package.
• Outline escalation paths and remedies: In the contract, ensure clear terms for handling issues. This includes remedies for SLA breaches (service credits, etc.) and having named AWS contacts for support. It might also cover quarterly business reviews with AWS, training sessions, or access to AWS advisory programs. These qualitative elements ensure you get cheaper AWS resources, reliable service, and help when needed.

Example: A financial services firm made it a point during EA negotiations to address uptime and support for their mission-critical trading application on AWS. They negotiated an addendum that if AWS’s region uptime fell below 99.99% in a quarter, they would receive service credits at an elevated percentage (beyond the standard SLA credit) to compensate for the impact. They also secured a named support team that included a TAM and a solution architect who would meet with them monthly to review architecture and costs. Later, when a regional outage affected their systems for an hour, the firm received a substantial credit automatically, and AWS provided immediate architectural guidance to improve resilience. This reinforced the importance of having that support and SLA terms locked in beyond pricing concerns.

13. Consolidate Cloud Spend Across the Organization

When it comes to AWS enterprise deals, volume is leveraged. Aggregating all possible AWS spending under one agreement can boost your committed spending and unlock better discounts:

• Use AWS Organizations for a combined view: Bring all business units, departments, and international subsidiaries under a master account structure if possible. AWS will then treat the total as one for negotiation purposes. This might involve internal governance work (to ensure all teams use the centralized account structure or link their accounts). Still, the payoff is potentially moving into a higher discount tier due to higher aggregate spend.
• Include new projects and migrations: If any part of your company plans a cloud migration from on-prem or moving workloads from another provider to AWS, factor that in and include it under the EA. The prospect of new workloads coming to AWS as part of your organization can strengthen your position. AWS reps often respond favorably if they see they’re getting not just existing spend but additional workloads via the deal.
• Centralize negotiations for subsidiaries: If your company has independent divisions using AWS in smaller ways, consider centralizing the procurement. Negotiating one enterprise agreement for all eliminates fragmented, smaller contracts and concentrates buying power. Ensure you have an internal chargeback or governance mechanism so that each unit still tracks its usage and costs under the central deal.

Example: A multinational conglomerate realized that three of its regional branches were separately using AWS, each spending around $200k annually, not enough individually to get significant discounts. They consolidated these and their main HQ’s AWS usage into a single enterprise agreement. The combined commitment was about $1.2M/year, which moved them into a higher discount bracket than any division could have achieved alone. As a result, they negotiated a 12% discount across the board, whereas individually, those divisions had no discount. By consolidating, they effectively saved hundreds of thousands of dollars that would have been missed in siloed deals. Additionally, AWS provided them with a dedicated global account manager to oversee the relationship, uniformly improving support for all units.

14. Leverage AWS Cost Management and Optimization Tools

Entering an EA is not a “set and forget” event – you must actively manage your cloud usage to maximize value. AWS offers tools and reports to help you track spend and optimize usage continuously:

• AWS Cost Explorer and Budgets: Set up AWS Cost Explorer reports to break down your spending and see trends over time. This helps ensure you’re pacing well against your committed spending so far this year. You can also set AWS Budgets alarms to warn you if you’re under-spending (risking a shortfall) or overspending (which could indicate runaway costs or higher usage that might need renegotiation later).
• Resource optimization tools: Use AWS Trusted Advisor or third-party tools (like CloudForecast, CloudHealth, or native AWS Compute Optimizer) to find ongoing cost savings opportunities. Even during your EA term, you should continue rightsizing instances, deleting unused storage, and taking advantage of new AWS features that can lower costs (e.g., new instance types or savings plan offerings). Just because you have a committed spending doesn’t mean you should be wasteful – every bit of waste trimmed can be used for something productive.
• Regular usage reviews: Make it a practice to do quarterly cloud business reviews internally and with AWS. Many companies form a Cloud FinOps or governance committee that reviews cost reports, ensuring the company remains on track to meet (but not grossly exceed) the committed spend. This also helps prevent the “false sense of abundance” that some teams fall into after an EA (“We have to spend $X anyway, so why optimize?”). Continual monitoring avoids complacency and catches deviations early.

Example: An IoT services company on an AWS EA created a dashboard using Cost Explorer and custom scripts to track their monthly spending against their commitment. In one quarter, the dashboard alerted them that their spending rate was 10% below the pro-rata commitment target – a sign they might be under-run for the year. They discovered a planned project had been delayed, causing the gap. In response, they accelerated some planned AWS deployments (and turned off a few more unused resources to balance) to ensure they utilized their commitment fully by year-end. Conversely, another alert showed when their spending started climbing faster than expected due to a new analytics workload, giving them time to optimize it and avoid a budget surprise. These tools and governance practices ensured no money was left on the table and there were no end-of-year scrambles or penalties. AWS account managers appreciate this, too, as it demonstrates you’re a responsible partner in the agreement.

15. Plan for Long-Term Cloud Governance and Renewal

A successful first AWS Enterprise Agreement should set the stage for ongoing success, not just a one-time win. It’s vital to put in place long-term governance and plan for the EA’s lifecycle:

• Document obligations and track progress: Maintain clear documentation of your EA commitments, discount structures, and special terms. Ensure someone (or a team) is accountable for tracking these. For instance, if your EA says you must grow spending by 20% by year 2, that must be on a roadmap. Regularly review your actual AWS usage vs. the commitment and growth clauses.
• Establish a cloud governance team: This team can oversee cost optimization, contract compliance, and renegotiation preparation. Involving finance, IT, and procurement, they should meet periodically (monthly or quarterly) to review cloud spend, upcoming needs, and any AWS service or support concerns. Think of this as an ongoing FinOps practice integrated with vendor management.
• Start renewal prep early: Don’t wait until the last month of your EA to plan for what’s next. Typically, 6–12 months before the EA expires, start re-forecasting and gathering requirements for the next term. If you’ve kept a good relationship with AWS, you might even get their outreach to renew. Use your data from the current term as leverage: did you exceed your commitment by a large margin (meaning you might deserve even better discounts next time)? Did AWS make a huge amount of new service revenue from you (leverage for better terms)? Conversely, you’ll want to adjust or ensure more flexibility if you struggle to use the commitment.
• Learn and iterate: Conduct a retrospective after year 1 of your EA. What worked well and what didn’t? Perhaps the commitment was almost too easy to reach (maybe we could have gotten a higher discount with a bigger commitment), or some business units didn’t follow the plan. Use these insights to fine-tune your approach. AWS EAs can be renewed and renegotiated; a first EA is often a learning experience that informs a more optimized second EA.

Example: A global finance company set up a Cloud Steering Committee when their AWS EA kicked off. This committee enforced tagging and reporting to ensure every dollar spent on AWS was accounted for. As the end of year 2 approached, they already had detailed reports showing their usage patterns. They noticed their cloud usage was growing faster than initially projected (thanks to a new big data platform that took off), so 9 months before the EA ended, they began discussions with AWS about a renewal. Armed with data that they had grown 30% annually (versus the 20% in the contract), they negotiated the renewal from a position of strength, securing a deeper discount and more flexible terms. Additionally, because they had solid governance, no compliance issues or surprise overages occurred during the term, building AWS’s trust in them and making the renewal negotiation smoother.