Why Partners Are Betting On Google Instead Of Microsoft: Google Cloud Programs Head Explains

‘There is nobody else, literally, that can go toe to toe with Google in terms of what we can bring to partners of all dimensions,’ says David Smith, Google Cloud’s global head of partner programs and a former longtime Microsoft executive.

David Smith spent nearly 27 years at Microsoft before becoming Google Cloud’s new global partner program leader this year with huge hopes to elevate agentic AI opportunities and sales for Google’s 120,000-strong channel ecosystem.

“There is nobody else, literally, that can go toe-to-toe with Google in terms of what we can bring to partners of all dimensions,” said Smith, Google’s head of partner programs, in an interview with CRN. “Google is one of one on the planet.”

From Google Cloud not competing with partners on service delivery and its end-to-end technology stack to Google’s new $750 million partner fund and new Google Cloud Partner Network program, Smith said Google is ahead of rivals like Microsoft when it comes to elevating channel partners in the AI era.

“Google built [the Google Cloud Partner Network] literally at the infrastructure level, fueled by AI, and we have this vision to make it and enable it to be the most agentic partner program available to any partner,” Smith said.

[Related: Google Cloud Next: 5 Biggest Gemini, TPU, AI And Partner Takeaways]

“We’re doing things to enable partners to maximize their earnings potential. We’re doing things to seamlessly bring forward the partner capability and their superpowers to customers and to our field teams,” Smith said.

Google Cloud’s New Partner Program Head Comes From Microsoft

Smith started at Microsoft in 1998 until joining Google in late 2025. He was named Google Cloud’s channel chief and global head of partner programs last month.

His last executive role at Microsoft was vice president of worldwide channel sales.

Smith has also held top Microsoft positions over his tenure including vice president of U.S. partners; vice president of worldwide SMB sales; and general manager of Microsoft’s worldwide SMB sales.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Cloud launched a new partner program in 2026, the Google Cloud Partner Network, shifting how the $71 billion cloud company financially rewards and works with channel partners, including new tiering and a competency framework.

In an interview with CRN, Smith sheds light on Google Cloud’s partner strategy, revamping its programs on a “month-by-month” basis to accommodate new capabilities, and how Google’s dedication to channel partners is at the top of the pyramid.

“There is no meeting I’m in at any level of this company I’m at now that does not gravitate at some point quickly towards, ‘How can we do more with partners? How can we invest in the channel? How can we get some more direct feedback on how we can accelerate their agentic transformation?’” said Smith.

Why should partners bet on Google versus your competitors like Microsoft?

What partners are telling me about what they’re most energized about Google falls into three categories: One, it’s the AI innovation across this vertically integrated full stack.

The news at Google Next—from silicon and this advancement with the TPU eighth generation, through security, the data later, all the way up to the models. There is nobody else, literally, that can go toe to toe with Google in terms of what we can bring to partners of all dimensions.

Literally, Google is one of one on the planet.

I’m talking ISVs, SIs of all sizes and capabilities, as well as some of our big important scale partners.

What’s really hitting them [is] not only the innovation but how we’re bringing much more precision to how we invest in their success.

One of the things that’s critical is building a durable ecosystem that can build profitable practices with Google and ultimately deliver on these customer outcomes.

The example of that is the $750 million investment fund.

Talk about Google’s new $750 million partner investment fund.

If you break it apart—it hits on all the really important dimensions of how a parter needs to build scale, grow and optimize their agentic practice.

It covers every one of those spaces. Some examples [are] there’s partners who are literally bringing their customers into some of the side meetings along with the Google sales teams to really bring it to life.

We are able to optimize with our ecosystem and co-sell at scale with them.

The $750 million has been invested in ensuring that we do large-scale training and enablement.

Investments in presales and post-sales, and investment in engineering collaboration where our FDEs [forward deployed engineers] will work together with partners to do hands-on workshops with them so they’re able to build their own FDE practices.

What else makes Google Cloud’s partner strategy different from its cloud rivals?

I am thrilled about the progress and the announcement they did just a few months ago around the Google Cloud Partner Network.

Google built [the Google Cloud Partner Network] literally at the infrastructure level, fueled by AI, and we have this vision to make it and enable it to be the most agentic partner program available to any partner.

How it’s coming to life has things like really being vested, for example, in proactive AI-generated statements of work.

We’re doing things to enable partners to maximize their earnings potential. We’re doing things to seamlessly bring forward the partner capability and their superpowers to customers and to our field teams.

One of the things that we’re working on is this concept of 90-day agentic transformation sprints through the Google Cloud Partner Program.

Rather than an annual cadence of innovation and bringing value to the ecosystem, we’re going to be tireless in fueling that program.

For example, in the news around competencies [we] can really help partners skill up to be just amazing drivers of transformational outcomes with customers. I’ve seen the road map.

It’s literally going to be a month-by-month basis in terms of what we bring in terms of capabilities to the ecosystem.

What are some key areas where Google is more channel-friendly or has a leg up on the competitors’ channel ecosystem?

There’s a couple of things. We don’t compete with our partners on service delivery.

Google’s here to support and leverage the partners ‘practices that they’re investing in.

This is a big deal. We’re not here to replace it.

I do think that this open cloud is a massive differentiator. The stats about the amount of businesses that Google has that are over 1 billion users, or 2 billion users—like Google is the definition of scale in open cloud.

And there’s no other hyperscaler on the planet that really comes close at this point.

There’s an amazing stat that 95 percent of the top 20 SaaS companies in the world are building on our infrastructure today. They’re doing that for a reason.

Google’s not resting.

We’re almost taking a daily mindset to: ‘How can we do more? How can we innovate more?’ And ultimately, it’s there to seize this great opportunity of driving great customer outcomes and serving customers. Channel partners in our ecosystem are going to be at the center of it.

Is there anything learnings from Microsoft’s channel world that you’ll be bringing to Google?

I’m excited to be a part of this transformation of the channel to really seize this agentic moment that’s in front of us.

It’s a unique time in history.

Every meeting I’m in with senior leadership at Google is one where we talk about investing in partners; how do partners seize this moment with us; helping deliver great customer outcomes; and thinking about this opportunity to be the great provider across the platform, really lighting it up with use cases and change management, and really enabling humans to really be at their best within organizations.

For me, it’s just to lean forward and really seize the moment.

I’m excited. Look, we have a foundation at our back, and we’re leaning forward, building on all the strong work that the teams have done.

We’re not slowing down. Google has a lot of momentum. We’re in a position of strength, and we’re determined.