Google Cloud's new UK boss: 'We are investing heavily in the areas that partners want'

Pip White spoke with CRN on adapting to customers' acceleration to the cloud and 'inves

The pandemic has accelerated cloud migration as organisations prepare to operate in a "very different" world, according to Google Cloud UKI's new boss.

Pip White told CRN that Google Cloud has taken partner feedback on board and is investing in the areas where partners need the most assistance in helping customers undergo their migration to the cloud.

"What I love about Google Cloud - and what was one of the real attractive points for joining - is that we are a partner-first company," she stated.

"Our partner ecosystem is growing rapidly, especially in the areas that our partners need the most. For instance, we're investing heavily and jointly with our partners in areas like cloud migration, hybrid and multi cloud solutions and services in verticals, which is a big strategy for us.

"Partners are key to the largest opportunities we're doing with our customers and partners are attached to the vast majority of their engagements that we're working on."

White started in her new role at the firm just four weeks ago, after long stints in senior management at both Salesforce and HPE.

The motivation for customers to move to the cloud has changed from it being cost-effective to becoming a central part of the customer's digital overhaul, she explained.

"Right now we're focused on helping our customers and partners reimagine and build their businesses digitally," she explained.

"It's obvious that that need has been accelerated by COVID-19 and the proportion of enterprise IT spending on public cloud computing continues to increase. The time is really now to move to the cloud - and it's just getting started.

"Until now the drivers to move to the cloud have been more broadly about convenience and cost. But now it's much more than that, we see it's now about change and transformation and how customers build new and game-changing capabilities. It's no longer about if the cloud makes sense, it's about when and how quickly they can get to that."

"We're helping our customers navigate present circumstances, as well as working with them to build a foundation and a platform for their future and, obviously, preparing for a world that will likely be very different post-pandemic."

Stay tuned for more from CRN's interview with White where she reveals where partners fit in the vendor's growth strategy and its plans for the UK market