Optimizing Cloud Costs for India's Fastest-Growing Online Learning Platform
Reducing cloud spend by 42% while scaling infrastructure to handle 15x traffic spikes during exam periods and improving operational efficiency
Overview
An innovative educational technology company based in Hyderabad providing online learning solutions to 350,000+ students across India. Their platform offers both live and recorded classes, practice tests, and personalized learning paths for K-12 and competitive exam preparation.
With rapid growth accelerated by pandemic-driven remote learning adoption, the company experienced cloud costs spiraling out of control while struggling to maintain performance during peak usage periods. Unpredictable traffic patterns – with 15x spikes during exam seasons followed by significant lulls – created unique infrastructure challenges.
Business Challenges
Excessive Cloud Spending
Monthly AWS costs exceeding ₹18 lakhs with inefficient resource allocation
Over-provisioned instances running at less than 25% utilization during off-peak periods
Reserved instance strategy misaligned with actual usage patterns
Significant spending on unused or underutilized services and storage
Performance Inconsistencies
Degraded user experience during high-traffic exam preparation periods
Manual scaling unable to respond quickly to sudden traffic spikes
Database bottlenecks causing video buffering and test submission failures
Inconsistent content delivery speeds across different regions
Operational Inefficiencies
Limited visibility into cost drivers and resource utilization patterns
Lack of governance around resource provisioning and cloud access
Manual and time-consuming infrastructure management processes
No tagging strategy for resource allocation tracking across departments
Our Solution
We implemented a comprehensive cloud optimization strategy balancing cost efficiency with performance reliability during unpredictable traffic patterns.
Assessment & Strategy
We conducted a thorough analysis of the current cloud infrastructure and usage patterns to identify optimization opportunities and establish a strategic roadmap.
Cost Analysis
Performed comprehensive AWS cost analysis across all accounts and services
Identified spending patterns correlated with academic calendars and exam schedules
Benchmarked current spending against industry standards for similar workloads
Created detailed cost allocation mapping for accurate department chargebacks
Performance Evaluation
Analyzed performance metrics during both peak and off-peak periods
Identified key bottlenecks in the application and infrastructure stack
Mapped user journey performance to infrastructure components
Created baseline performance requirements for consistent user experience
Architecture Review
Evaluated current architecture against cloud-native best practices
Identified monolithic components suitable for containerization
Assessed database architecture for scalability limitations
Created optimization roadmap prioritizing high-impact, low-effort changes
Business Impact & Results
Cost Reduction
•Reduced monthly AWS spend from ₹18 lakhs to ₹10.4 lakhs
•Improved reserved instance coverage from 35% to 75%
•Reduced storage costs by 68% through lifecycle management
•Implemented spot instances for non-critical workloads saving ₹2.1 lakhs monthly
Enhanced Performance
•Average page load time decreased from 3.2s to 1.2s during peak periods
•Eliminated video buffering issues during live class sessions
•Successfully handled exam-day traffic spike of 18x without degradation
•Reduced database query latency by 75% through optimization
Operational Efficiency
•Reduced infrastructure management from 45 to 7 hours weekly
•Automated 92% of scaling operations that were manual
•Prevented unexpected overages with proactive cost anomaly detection
•Provided clear spending visibility across departments and services
Business Agility
•Reduced environment provisioning time from 3 days to just 4 hours globally
•Enabled frequent feature releases with on-demand test environments
•Supported launch of two new products with variable demand
•Built a robust foundation for expansion into two new regional markets
"VegaStack transformed our business by reducing cloud costs and improving platform performance during critical periods. Their approach provided immediate savings and long-term improvements, while empowering our team to maintain these optimizations."
Key Takeaways
Predictive Scaling Strategy
Implementing proactive scaling based on academic calendars eliminated performance issues during predictable traffic spikes.
Serverless Architecture Gains
Moving to serverless components for variable workloads reduced costs during low-usage periods while ensuring seamless scaling.
Governance Importance
Establishing cloud governance processes was as important as technical optimizations for sustainable cost management.
Cost-Performance Balance
Strategic investments in performance optimization ultimately drove both cost savings and improved user experience.
Conclusion
This engagement transformed the client's cloud infrastructure from a financial burden into a strategic advantage. By implementing a comprehensive optimization strategy, we helped them achieve significant cost savings while improving performance during their most critical business periods.
The newly optimized infrastructure provides a foundation for sustainable growth, allowing the company to expand their course offerings and enter new markets without proportional increases in cloud spending. With proper governance processes and team training in place, they can maintain the balance between cost efficiency and performance as they continue to scale their educational platform across India and beyond.
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