CDW Cozies Up to Google with Reseller, Apps Deal

Direct marketer CDW (CDW), a longstanding Microsoft (MSFT) channel partner, said it has signed on to Google’s (GOOG) Apps Reseller program and will offer the Google Apps for Business productivity suite as part of its portfolio of public cloud solutions.

CDW said it will add its professional services and managed services into the mix to help customers migrate their on-premise or cloud applications to Google Apps. The deal adds to an earlier agreement between the companies struck about a year ago for CDW to carry Google Chromebooks.

Still, the move suggests CDW may not be thrilled with its margins on Microsoft’s Office 365 and perhaps it was offered a sweet, margin-rich deal by Google to jump ship. Inasmuch as Microsoft has cuffed around its Office 365 partners a bit—reportedly cutting commission fees and paring incentives—will other big channel partners follow CDW’s lead?

Or, as a new Frost & Sullivan report suggested and Talkin’Cloud detailed, perhaps Office 365’s momentum is ebbing, with more admins supporting Google Apps.

Stephen Braat, CDW senior director and general manager, Cloud and Managed Solutions, said CDW made the move to add to its cloud solutions lineup. The company has more than 225 offerings spanning software, infrastructure and platform as a service, he said.

“Office productivity continues to be one of the most popular cloud computing categories,” said Braat. “Integrating cloud productivity initiatives into an organization’s IT architecture can be both complex and time consuming,” he said. “CDW provides the full breadth of services to quickly and smoothly begin taking advantage of the cloud’s benefits. With Google Apps for Business and CDW’s migration and integration services, we continue to build a best-in-class portfolio of compelling cloud solutions.”

To help customers implement Google Apps, CDW said it will partner with migration services providers such as Tempus Nova, a Denver-based Google Apps Premier Reseller that has developed tools to migrate mail and calendar data to Google Apps. Other similar collaborations will follow, the direct marketer said.

Didi Dellanno, Tempus Nova vice president, said “Google’s constant stream of innovation combined with CDW’s depth and breadth of experience delivering technology solutions will make this a very successful partnership.”