The correct answer is 'Reduced hardware investments' because AWS Cloud allows companies to eliminate or significantly reduce physical infrastructure expenses by providing resources that scale with demand. On the other hand, buying physical servers leads to over-provisioning to handle peak loads, which is costly and often results in underutilized resources. Paying only for software licenses does not consider the other costs of maintaining on-premises data centers. While AWS provides fast deployment, it is a benefit that relates more closely to agility and innovation rather than direct cost savings associated with economies of scale.