Cloud discount management for resellers: a practical framework

Cloud savings programs are an asset most resellers under-utilize. Not because they don't use them — because they manage them reactively, one program at a time, instead of as a portfolio.

• Savings Plans — flexible compute commitment in AWS, tied to dollar-per-hour. Best for steady workloads.
• Reserved Instances — specific instance commitment. Higher discount, lower flexibility.
• MACC — Microsoft's multi-year consumption commitment in Azure.
• Credits — promotional, marketplace, or negotiated balances applied to specific spend.
• Negotiated rates — customer-specific or partner-tier discounts on list price.

Each works on a different axis. Treat them as one portfolio.

Allocation policy. When a benefit applies to mixed customer usage, who gets it? Originating customer, pro-rata, or retained by the reseller. Write the policy down. Apply it consistently. Re-evaluate annually.

Coverage policy. What percentage of compute should be on a Savings Plan or Reserved Instance? Most resellers land between 70% and 90% — 100% is risky if customer churn could leave you holding unused commitments.

Refresh policy. When commitments roll, do you renew on the same scope, expand, or contract? Anchored to actual customer trajectory, not provider sales pressure.

The discount portfolio gets reviewed monthly with three views:

1. Coverage — what percent of eligible spend is covered, by program.
2. Utilization — for each instrument, are you using what you paid for.
3. Attribution — for SP and RI, where did the benefit actually land.

The teams that do this well find a 4–6 point margin improvement within two quarters — not because they bought more Savings Plans, but because they stopped leaking the benefit to customers who didn't trigger it.

If you only watch one discount metric, watch reseller-retained discount benefit as a share of total customer cost. Trending up means your portfolio is working. Trending down means you're giving away margin you don't have to.