Design principles

Establish ownership of cost optimization for your EUC services: EUC services are typically consumed by end-users, which is why consumption and cost is highly dependent on user behavior, usage patterns, self-service capabilities, application requirements, and other factors. Over and above knowledge of the cloud financial management, cost optimization for EUC services requires knowledge of the specific EUC services in use and how EUC services generally work to understand the levers they have to optimize cost. This includes Operating System choices, application workloads and their hardware requirements, licensing, storage requirements, desktop & application management, and other areas.

Govern self-service capabilities of EUC services: With EUC services you have the option to provide your users with certain self-service capabilities, which gives them flexibility to adjust their environment (e.g. CPU, RAM, Disk) according to their requirements. However, some of these self-service capabilities have an impact on your cost. With choice comes responsibility. If you leave the choice to your end-users, you should include the changes made via self-service capabilities in your cost & usage reporting so you can react accordingly.

Evaluate cost when selecting AWS EUC services: AWS offers different EUC services that lend themselves to different use cases. It is important to evaluate the application landscape, understand usage patterns, and understand hardware requirements to map the specific workload to a suitable EUC service. For example, in some cases a monthly billing model may be more cost-effective, while in other cases billing by the hour or even by the second may be the better choice. With different use cases and personas, it is common practice to make use of a mix of services & billing models as appropriate for the given use case. It is therefore important to - ideally upfront - gather data on usage, usage patterns and resource utilization to select the most appropriate service for a given workload.

Use existing licenses for cost optimization when appropriate: Whilst we give customers choice on the Operating System they consume, most customers deploy Microsoft Windows Operating Systems. Depending on your existing licensing with Microsoft, you may be able to use existing M365 or RDS CAL licenses with certain AWS EUC services. It is highly recommended you assess your eligibility to bring your own licenses upfront, since this may allow you to reduce the cost of your AWS EUC service. Consult the Amazon WorkSpaces FAQs on Windows BYOL, the Amazon WorkSpaces Applications FAQs on Pricing and Billing, and the Microsoft Licensing on AWS guide for further detail, and contact microsoft@amazon.com.