Google Cloud wants to be a key multi-cloud player in channel strategy

Dubbing itself as a “challenger” cloud provider, Google Cloud says it is embracing a multi-cloud approach as it continues to grow its channel presence in Australia

Google Cloud ANZ managing director Colin Timm told CRN the approach had been fueled by customers, who said having the flexibility to run multi-cloud infrastructure was important for their complex and unique operating environments.

“We have heard from our customers that having the flexibility to run a multi-cloud infrastructure is important and we’re listening to them,” Timm told CRN.

“Different workloads can be served by the strengths of different platforms. It’s never a one-size-fits-all strategy.”

An interesting part of the strategy is Google’s support for open source. Timm said taking advantage of open source solutions was a logical way for partners to enjoy multi-cloud capabilities without multiple vendor lock-in, with the company specifically supporting the likes of Hadoop for big data, Kubernetes for container technology and Istio for microservices. 

The company is also playing to its strengths in AI and machine learning to bolster interest around its cloud's feature set.  

“This is a natural extension for us in Google Cloud; helping our customers organise their world of information, across their value chain and to democratise it across their company, enhancing it further with machine learning and AI,” Timm said. “We are an AI first company, infusing AI into every product we bring to market.”

Google's increased focus on infusing its data and analytics technologies into its cloud platform was a key talking point for the vendor during its Google Cloud Next conference in July.

“Google Cloud has taken learnings from it’s consumers' experience in applying simplicity, scale and reliability to its services and we are hearing from our customers that this is key helping the adoption of Google Cloud services into our market,” he said.

Google Cloud is also investing in its alliance partnerships in the likes of Cisco, SAP and key system integrators, promising “a rich ecosystem to provide the best outcomes for its customers”.

“I can’t emphasise enough the importance of our partners, with partner takeup in Google Cloud Platform growing twofold month-on-month,” Timm said.

“We are very deliberate in the way we are engaging our partners, to the point where we almost want to be 100 percent partner-attached in everything we do.”

He said that while some organisations were still looking at Google Cloud as their second cloud environment, others had started to become “enlightened” on the platform’s capability and prowess.

“Customers tell us there’s a freshness to Google Cloud because it’s not as crowded and not too difficult to find a place,” Timm said.