Google Cloud channel boss on creating 'vibrant' partner ecosystem

New Partner Success Service acts as 'co-pilot' for partners implementing new solutions says Carolee Gearhart

Google Cloud's new Partner Success Service offering was designed to help and guide partners in keeping up to date with its new products, according to channel chief Carolee Gearhart.

Partner Success Service has a fee attached and has modular offerings aligned to specific solutions to provide partners with guidance during their customer projects.

It is available to Partner and Premier tier-level partners and Gearhart (pictured) said that there are two benefits to the service: access to technical specialists when working on a specific solution or new product, and a unified methodology.

"It's like a pilot's manual - everything you need to know about flying a plane," she said during a press roundtable at the vendor's Next event in London.

"As we release new pieces [The Partner Success Service] will allow partners to have their manual out of the box that they can read and know everything about doing it.

"If you are in a new area that you haven't been before, we have a co-pilot model, where you essentially invite Google to be a co-pilot on a particular project and make sure you're running best practices as you're upscaling your team and your organisation.

"It really is our focus to ensure that we continue to do what we need to do to build a vibrant ecosystem and make sure everyone's getting the best of the best."

Gearhart was joined at the roundtable by execs from partners Rackspace, NetApp and Atos.

When fielding a question about the perceived weakness of Google Cloud's channel in relation to its bigger competitors Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, Gearhart reflected that its philosophy of "value, not volume" differentiates it from its rivals.

"I think we're competing on our own field; we have our own set of products and innovations and from our perspective, it's really about us delivering value to customers," she stated.

"This aspect especially has been one of the reasons we've done this [offering] and…partners want to have plenty of space and a way that they can show and demonstrate their value.

"[Our partners have] a mixture of ways in which they're engaging with customers that cross building their own IP on things, in some cases reselling our products embedded with other things and also just implementing customers - they're doing a variety of things.

"I think generally when you go out and talk to partners they say ‘I don't want more partners in the pool, I want someone who will allow me a way to differentiate'.

"I think we've really focused on that and the reception from customers has been really positive from that perspective."