# Definition


 There are five best practice areas for performance efficiency in the cloud: 
+  **Architecture selection** 
+  **Compute and hardware** 
+  **Data management** 
+  **Networking and content delivery** 
+  **Process and culture** 

 Take a data-driven approach to building a high-performance architecture. Gather data on all aspects of the architecture, from the high-level design to the selection and configuration of resource types. 

 Reviewing your choices on a regular basis validates that you are taking advantage of the continually evolving AWS Cloud. Monitoring verifies that you are aware of any deviance from expected performance. Make trade-offs in your architecture to improve performance, such as using compression or caching, or relaxing consistency requirements.