From Cloud Waste to Cost Wins: A Case Study in AWS Infrastructure Optimization

One-liner summary:
Ideas2IT helped a healthtech innovator slash AWS infrastructure costs by 60% through a targeted audit, resource pruning, and smart configuration updates—without compromising security, compliance, or performance
Industry
No items found.
Location
USA
Tech Stacks
Challenge

Skyrocketing AWS costs from dormant environments, inefficient SQS queues, and overlapping service dependencies demanded a deep infrastructure cleanup.

The Problem with the Status Quo

Faced with growing AWS costs and underutilized environments, the client turned to Ideas2IT to conduct a deep infrastructure audit. We identified unused services, removed redundant resources, optimized SQS, and streamlined AWS Config, CloudTrail, and CloudWatch settings. The outcome?

  • 60% overall AWS cost reduction
  • 71.3% drop in sandbox account spend
  • 18–99% cost reductions across key services including EC2, RDS, SQS, and AWS Config

Where the Gaps Were

The client’s AWS usage had grown organically, spanning POCs, experiments, and product workloads. But as they scaled, so did inefficiencies:

  • Sandbox remnants from prior testing phases
  • Non-production workloads running full-scale infrastructure
  • Verbose monitoring setups logging every metric, everywhere

This ungoverned sprawl led to spiraling cloud bills and operational blind spots.

What We Delivered

  • Cataloged AWS infrastructure across dev, staging, and production environments
  • Grouped services by cost categories: compute, storage, messaging, logging, and monitoring
  • Identified zombie resources, unused accounts, and redundant configurations
  • Terminated idle compute assets, including EC2s, SageMaker notebooks, NAT gateways, and Elastic IPs
  • Decommissioned unused storage, including EBS volumes and RDS instances
  • Eliminated unnecessary SQS queues, cutting queue costs by 98.75%
  • Reduced CloudWatch and CloudTrail overhead, disabling irrelevant log groups and metrics
  • Tuned AWS Config, replacing all-region rule logging with targeted rule sets
  • Shut down cost leakage in non-production accounts

Outcomes We Achieved

Service Avg. Cost Reduction
SQS 98.75%
AWS Config 33.33%
EC2 & Deps 25%
RDS 18.75%
  • 60% overall monthly AWS cost savings
  •  71.3% drop in sandbox account cost
  •  Predicted ROI exceeded initial 50% target by 10%
  • No impact on uptime, HIPAA alignment, or ML workloads
Industry
No items found.
Location
USA
Tech Stacks
Challenge

Skyrocketing AWS costs from dormant environments, inefficient SQS queues, and overlapping service dependencies demanded a deep infrastructure cleanup.

Key Takeaways

  • Unused = Cost: Even dormant sandboxes can drain thousands per month
  • Logs Can Be Leaks: CloudTrail, Config, and CloudWatch defaults can silently inflate bills
  • Less Is Secure: Pruning resources reduces both costs and attack surface
  • ‍Audit ≠ Overhead: A 2-week audit can unlock month-over-month cost savings

Co-create with Ideas2IT

We show up early, listen hard, and figure out how to move the needle. If that’s the kind of partner you’re looking for, we should talk.
We’ll align on what you're solving for - AI, software, cloud, or legacy systems
You'll get perspective from someone who’s shipped it before
If there’s a fit, we move fast — workshop, pilot, or a real build plan
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