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Risk and Financial Protection

What happens if Cloud Capital defaults or ceases to operate? Cloud Capital maintains a ring-fenced financial reserve specifically to protect commitment customers. In the event of a serious operational issue, a back-up servicer or financing partner can step in to ensure continuity of the commitment risk protection. Your commitment risk coverage does not depend solely on Cloud Capital’s ongoing operation.
Who owns the commitments Cloud Capital purchases? Cloud Capital purchases commitments as an AWS reseller. The commitments sit within the dedicated account in your AWS Organization, and the discount flows to your workloads as it would with any commitment in your Organization. You do not carry the financial risk of underutilization — that sits with Cloud Capital — but you do receive the full savings benefit.
Can I still buy my own commitments alongside Cloud Capital? No — during the term of your agreement, you should not purchase AWS Reserved Instances or Savings Plans independently, or negotiate new pricing programs, without Cloud Capital’s written agreement. Independent commitment purchases can conflict with Cloud Capital’s coverage strategy, potentially creating overlap or disrupting the ladder structure. If you have a need to act independently, discuss it with your Cloud Capital account team first.
What is the ring-fenced reserve? Cloud Capital maintains a dedicated financial reserve — separate from its operating funds — that is available specifically to cover commitment obligations in extraordinary circumstances. This reserve is part of the continuity structure that ensures your GSR protection and risk coverage remain in place even if Cloud Capital’s normal operations are disrupted.

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Billing and Billing Models

What is the difference between Consolidated Billing and In-Place (Marketplace)? There are two billing arrangements:
  • Consolidated Billing — Cloud Capital acts as your AWS payer of record. You pay Cloud Capital monthly; Cloud Capital pays AWS. Your commitment savings and any Cloud Discount appear directly on your Cloud Capital invoice.
  • In-Place / Marketplace — You maintain your direct AWS billing relationship (including any existing PPA, EDP, or MSP arrangement). Cloud Capital’s charges and GSR rebates flow as a separate Private Offer line item through the AWS Marketplace. No changes to your existing AWS commercial relationship are required.
Both models receive the same commitment management and risk coverage. The difference is only in how billing flows.
How does billing work if I already have an EDP or PPA with AWS? Cloud Capital’s In-Place model is designed specifically for organizations with existing AWS commercial agreements. Your EDP, PPA, or MSP pricing is fully preserved — Cloud Capital purchases commitments in your Organization without disrupting your existing arrangement with AWS. Our charges appear separately through the Marketplace and do not interfere with your AWS commercial terms.

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Pre-Existing Commitments

I already have Reserved Instances or Savings Plans. What happens to them? Pre-existing commitments remain your financial responsibility — Cloud Capital does not absorb the risk of commitments purchased before your agreement started. However, Cloud Capital monitors them for term expiration and factors them into coverage planning. As they expire, Cloud Capital will propose replacements as part of the normal ladder process, transitioning them into the managed program over time to avoid savings interruptions.
What if my cloud spend drops significantly? Cloud Capital builds commitment proposals based on your forecast. If your spend drops for reasons outside your reasonable control — a major re-platforming, a business contraction — Cloud Capital will review the situation with you in good faith and agree an appropriate adjustment. There is a minimum spend level in the agreement to prevent deliberate shifting of spend outside Cloud Capital’s coverage, but genuine business changes are handled collaboratively. If your forecast changes significantly at any point, update your Cost Layers, business metrics, and engineering initiatives as early as possible. The earlier Cloud Capital knows about a material change, the better the proposals can be adapted before commitments are purchased.
What if my spend grows faster than expected? A growing forecast is a good problem to have. Cloud Capital will propose additional commitment steps at the next review meeting to capture the increased committable spend. Commitments are never purchased ahead of your forecast without your approval — the ladder adapts to your actual trajectory.

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The Review Process

Do I have to approve every commitment? Isn’t that what we pay Cloud Capital for? Yes — every commitment requires explicit approval before it is purchased, and this is intentional. Here is why. Cloud Capital does the analytical heavy lifting. Every possible combination of commitment type, term, and size has been evaluated against your usage data and forecast to identify the best-case savings outcome for your situation. By the time a proposal reaches your review meeting, that analysis is complete. What your approval confirms is something only you can verify: that the inputs to that analysis are current and accurate. Specifically:
  • Are your Business Metrics up to date and correctly reflecting your business plan?
  • Are all upcoming infrastructure changes — migrations, deprecations, new workloads, right-sizing — entered as Engineering Initiatives?
  • Do your Cost Layers reflect how your organisation is actually structured today?
Keeping these inputs accurate is a requirement of your agreement with Cloud Capital. The quality of every proposal depends directly on the quality of that data — if spend is about to shift in a way that isn’t captured in your forecast, a commitment sized against the current picture may not be optimal. When your inputs are current and complete, Cloud Capital has everything it needs to optimise fully on your behalf. The review meeting is your opportunity to confirm that your Cost Layers, business metrics, and engineering initiatives are all solid, in place, and complete — making it easy to approve with confidence and unlock the savings on your cloud bill. During the ladder-up phase, approvals happen in weekly review meetings. During ongoing management, they move to monthly reviews. See Commitment Proposal & Onboarding for the full review cadence.