Google Cloud Launches ‘Exciting’ New Logo Incentive, Delivery Program For Partners

Google Cloud unveils a net-new customer incentive and its Delivery Readiness Index program, aimed at providing partners with more resources and training on specific customer projects.

Google Cloud is pushing its channel partners to win over net-new customers from its cloud and on-premises rivals by launching a brand-new incentive.

“For the partners that are helping us win that new logo, we want to provide additional incentives above and beyond whatever they get,” Google Cloud’s worldwide channel leader, Kevin Ichhpurani, told CRN.

Google Cloud launched its net-new logo incentive at Google Next this week, which will provide additional incentives for channel partners who win over new customers.

“It could be a net-new logo from on-premises or it could be a net-new logo from AWS or [Microsoft] Azure. It could be either,” said Ichhpurani, corporate vice president of global ecosystem and channels at Google Cloud. “We do see a lot of customers that are moving from one platform to Google Cloud. So it could be on-prem or it could be another hyperscaler.”

[Related: Google Cloud Next: 10 BigQuery, Workspace, VMs, AI Launches]

Betsy Reed, co-founder and chief revenue officer for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Google Cloud partner CloudWerx, said the new incentive will help drive sales.

“Google [Cloud] identifying and really supporting partners with additional funding and incentives helps us all across the board,” said Reed. “Google is saying, ‘Hey, what are the tools and levers we can pull to help incent partners to really allow them to get new logos?’ … We already have specific resources that are targeting net-new customers to bring them to GCP [Google Cloud Platform]. So this is super exciting.”

Google Cloud Launches Delivery Readiness Index

At Google Next this week, the Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud giant also launched its new Delivery Readiness Index program aimed at granting partners more resources and training for specific customer projects.

Ichhpurani told CRN the new Delivery Readiness Index program makes sure a partner has all the expertise and real-world experience needed to successfully complete a customer project because sometimes having Google certifications does not necessary guarantee a partner’s ability to deliver.

“We come in and help the partners understand a project. For example, they’re moving SAP on to GCP, or Teradata to BigQuery. ‘Are your actual teams, beyond certifications, do they have the experiential learning? Have they been-there, done-that already? Do they have the ability to execute successfully on a customer project?’” said Ichhpurani.

Google To Fill In Any ‘Gaps’

If a partner doesn’t have all the tools and experience necessary for a project, Google Cloud will provide additional training and enablement to the partner in order to ensure the customer project is successful.

“If there are gaps, we will put them through labs and provide enablement to ensure that customers are successful,” said Ichhpurani.

Google Cloud will work with partners on a customer-by-customer basis via the new Delivery Readiness Index program.

“We’ll look at the actual people on that engagement side that are going to go do a project at Deutsche Bank, for example, and we will make sure that they have not just the certifications but the experience of doing those kinds of projects before,” said Google Cloud’s channel leader. “And if they don’t, how can we augment them with our folks if necessary, from our Safeguarding services, but also provide them additional training and enablement to ensure that customer is successful?”

Delivery Readiness Index Shows Google Cloud’s Partner Commitment

CloudWerx’s Reed said the Delivery Readiness Index program shows that Google Cloud is shifting toward a more partner-led delivery model.

“We’re super excited about [the Delivery Readiness Index program] because of the opportunity it allows CloudWerx to work even more intentionally together with Google [Cloud] as that full extension of a customer’s account and delivery team,” said Reed.

Although Google Cloud has worked with partners in the past on projects, the Delivery Readiness Index creates a structure to make sure “that no stone goes unturned and there isn’t any way for a customer to have a lack or a gap in expertise in resources” on both the Google Cloud or the partner side, Reed said.

Overall, the net-new customer incentive and Delivery Index Readiness program is a win for both customers and partners.

“Google [Cloud] is truing up on the commitment [it] has to be customer-centric and partner-first. But even more than just channel success, it’s really about success for the customer because they’re getting the best of all worlds,” said Reed.

“Customers are getting this combination of the best resources from the partner side, and the Google [Cloud] side, and then everybody’s getting up-leveled and a better experience and a better result,” she said.