SoftwareOne case study

Logistics firm fuels growth by buying and managing cloud better

An international parcel delivery and logistics provider wanted to serve more people around the world with sustainable logistics solutions. A streamlined software procurement process using AWS Marketplace and new visibility into cloud consumption and spending paved the way to cost-effectively expand its delivery network in the cloud.

During the pandemic between 2020 and 2021, as people turned to home delivery for almost everything, an international parcel delivery company had delivered more packages than ever before. As demand for its services grew, the logistics provider increasingly relied on cloud computing to manage more than 100 million data points daily and provide excellent service to customers. The challenge was that its AWS cloud consumption and costs were rising fast – and managing usage and billing across its subsidiaries in multiple countries was becoming overwhelming.

The logistics company needed a way to gain greater visibility into its cloud usage, make billing and buying of software easier and control spending. It asked SoftwareOne, a trusted longstanding partner, to help.

USD 200k
of AWS cloud costs saved over 3 years
80
AWS accounts outsourced and billed effectively
100%
visibility of AWS cloud consumption across all subsidiaries

Client: International logistics provider
Industry: Transportation
Platform: AWS
Services: Simple for AWS with AWS EDP (Enterprise Discount Program)
Country: Germany

When business and cloud consumption grow

In 2020–2021, the company reported record parcel delivery revenues. As a result of this growth, a huge amount of data needs to be processed – more than 100 million records every day. It also means integrating data in near-real time so that the information customers see is always up to date. It requires the company to have a fast, reliable IT infrastructure – and one that is cost-efficient and transparent too.

Having already used AWS, the delivery provider lacked visibility into how it was using those services, managing costs and optimizing resources. It also planned to add more AWS cloud services to support its growth but it needed a better way to manage software consumption, subscriptions and licenses across the company. Another challenge was allocating consumption costs to each of its subsidiaries. The analog breakdown of the extensive cost report from AWS had been time-consuming and cumbersome.

Discovering discounts, streamlining and outsourcing

Working with Amazon Web Services (AWS), SoftwareOne assessed the logistic company’s existing IT environment and developed a 3-year plan to help it gain a centralized view of its AWS cloud usage and spend, reduce costs, and streamline software procurement. Using AWS Marketplace for faster, easier procurement combined with the AWS Enterprise Discount Program (AWS EDP), it expects to save over USD 200,000. With centralized access to cloud consumption data via SoftwareOne’s PyraCloud, the delivery provider gains the visibility it needs to control costs effectively and easier plan and manage its budgets.

Two men in hard hats standing in a warehouse.

What has been achieved in detail:

Based on negotiations of discount options between SoftwareOne and AWS, under SoftwareOne's Simple for AWS service and the AWS EDP, the delivery company receives a discount for each AWS cloud consumption purchased through SoftwareOne.
By using AWS Marketplace the logistics provider transformed and significantly improved procurement for selected vendors and ISV transactions. It can now purchase more quickly and benefit from additional discounts.
SoftwareOne’s PyraCloud platform provides the right tools the company needs to continuously track, manage and cost-optimize its cloud spending. It can see immediately what its AWS service consumption looks like. It can also manage billing, licenses and subscriptions without the need for in-house staff.
SoftwareOne takes care of invoicing and invoice distribution for all of the company's AWS accounts, which total more than 80. SoftwareOne also provides recommendations on how the logistics provider can keep optimizing its cloud costs – directly accessible via PyraCloud at any time.

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Managed cloud consumption for sustainable growth

Today, the delivery and logistics provider has a single-pane view of AWS cloud consumption across its business. On the benefits of easier software procurement, the Head of Software & Cloud Procurement says:

Since we have been purchasing software through SoftwareOne in AWS Marketplace, we not only benefit from a better price, but also from bundling our procurement processes. The easy and quick use of AWS Marketplace has streamlined our central software purchasing and saves us a lot of time.

With better, real-time insights into how it’s using the cloud, it can make faster decisions and better manage consumption to support its growth and sustainability goals: “The benefits that PyraCloud has brought us are massive.”, says the Head of Software & Cloud Procurement. For example, using the search function, the company can quickly access AWS consumption data centrally that was previously only available separately, from a wide variety of internal systems at the country organizations.

Today, with just a single click, we can directly view what individual consumption patterns of our subsidiaries look like, whether in local or company-wide projects, which helps us control costs, gain visibility and better plan our budgets.

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Another advantage offered by PyraCloud is the prediction of future cloud usage scenarios based on existing consumption data: “Our experience has shown that the calculation is correct 80-85% of the time. We already relied on the forecasts last year for annual planning and were pleasantly surprised that the prediction was exactly right. From now on, we can also rely on PyraCloud's forecasts for annual budget planning for our AWS cloud services,” says the Head of Software & Procurement.

The new visibility also helps product and project managers to identify inefficiencies in how AWS cloud services are being used, and to pinpoint areas where security needs to be improved. Product managers can access analyses and recommendations through SoftwareOne reports that are tailored to their individual needs. The Head for Software & Procurement makes it clear:

PyraCloud provides us a whole new dimension to monitor and actively influence our cloud cost management through data-driven actions, to get the most out of our cloud investments. This helps us to expand our delivery network in a very cost-effective way and better serve our customers with more sustainable delivery solutions.