A high-growth adtech / shoppable-content SaaS
AWS-validated reference — full details available to AWS Partner Validation or on request. (Customer name held on file with VeUP.)
For the customer, a UK shoppable-content adtech SaaS, VeUP attacked a ~$5,000/month Amazon OpenSearch Service cost hotspot — its largest AWS line item — with index-lifecycle and storage-tiering policies, Archera commitments, a Cost-Optimization Well-Architected Review, and a CloudFormation cost dashboard.
The challenge
the customer rapid growth drove AWS costs up, concentrated in an Amazon OpenSearch Service tier (search + log analytics) running at roughly $5,000/month — the single largest line item, growing with index volume. The team needed to reduce and stabilize that cost without losing search/analytics capability, plus an independent architecture review and durable cost visibility as it scaled.
The solution
A managed-FinOps and Well-Architected engagement centered on the Amazon OpenSearch Service tier: Index State Management lifecycle policies, UltraWarm/Cold storage tiering, and replica right-sizing so cost tracks data value rather than raw accumulation; Archera Savings-Plans/Reserved-Instances commitment coverage; a Well-Architected Review weighted to the Cost Optimization pillar producing a prioritized remediation backlog; and a cost/observability dashboard delivered via AWS CloudFormation over Amazon CloudWatch and AWS Cost Explorer, governed with AWS IAM Identity Center, AWS Organizations, AWS KMS and Amazon VPC.
Production outcomes
| KPI | Result |
|---|---|
| Production outcomes | OpenSearch index-lifecycle and storage-tiering policies implemented and commitment coverage layered through Archera against the ~$5,000/month baseline; a Cost-Optimization-weighted Well-Architected Review delivered with a prioritized remediation backlog; a CloudFormation cost/observability dashboard stood up so the customer could track OpenSearch and overall spend by service. The realized cost-reduction percentage is a customer-tenant figure in the customer Cost Explorer, provided to AWS Partner Validation via the standard customer-reference channel. |
| Engagement window | 2024-10-04 (Resell Customer Live); WAR Closed-Won 2026-03-31 → 2026-03-31 (WAR delivered); account since churned — historical example |
| Cost / TCO posture | The engagement was a FinOps program against the OpenSearch hotspot: ISM lifecycle + UltraWarm/Cold tiering + replica right-sizing (cost tracks data value) layered with Archera commitment coverage, and a CloudFormation dashboard for durable per-service cost visibility. Realized $/% reduction is held in the customer's Cost Explorer. |
| Lessons & continuation | On high-growth search/analytics SaaS, the OpenSearch tier is often the runaway line item — index lifecycle + storage tiering + replica right-sizing attack it before commitment coverage; a CloudFormation cost dashboard turns a one-time FinOps review into a durable mechanism. |
Amazon OpenSearch Service · AWS CloudFormation · Amazon CloudWatch · AWS Cost Explorer · AWS Organizations · AWS IAM Identity Center · AWS KMS
Architecture
Well-Architected view of the customer's Amazon OpenSearch Service tier: previous-state cost drivers on the left, the optimized AWS target state on the right, and the six Well-Architected pillars assessed against the delivered remediation.
