Google Cloud Partner Program VP: AI ‘Probably the Inflection Point for Me’
Colleen Kapase, who succeeded Bronwyn Hastings, shares why she chose Google Cloud, what she thought of last week’s Channel Partners Expo and more.
![Google Cloud partner VP Colleen Kapase Google Cloud partner VP Colleen Kapase](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltceb2ce210ccb19c2/65ef7c5f7410c5040aecc386/Colleen_Kapase.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Google Cloud's Colleen Kapase on stage at CP Expo/MSP Summit, March 11, 2024.Steve Hall Photography
Channel Futures: You’ve said that you chose to come to Google Cloud because of the provider’s work in AI and data — and the latter, especially, is a domain where you have a ton of expertise. So what’s next as you work with Google Cloud channel partners?
Colleen Kapase: My particular challenge is getting partners to the last mile. The reality is there are more of those AI opportunities than Google itself [can] serve. We need more partners that can bring us to the last mile on the implementation, on the deployment, helping the customer figure out how to get these models running, get the outcomes they need and then maintain them.
It sounds easy, but with models adjusting and shifting all of the time, we have to ensure we've got the right model for the customer for their specific needs. And having a service partner who can provide that is [key]. We’re providing the tools, the assets, the training — and it’s not just book smart, we need street smarts now. So holding hands, doing delivery together, practitioner to practitioner, that's where we're now focused and making sure that we can get partners who are seeing this all the way through.
CF: I sense that there’s more that drew you to Google Cloud. Can you expound?
CK: Yes. I also just really love the partner DNA in the staff within Google too. And it's not just in the partner team. This is from our sales leadership, CEO Thomas Kurian and below, and they’ve been partner-centric all along for a really, really long time, and I don't see it changing. I see them sort of doubling down on that. I'm consistently in conversations with Thomas where he [says], "How are we getting these tech partners? What are we doing for them? How are we investing in them," and frankly, as a partner practitioner, that’s what you want to hear from a leader all day long.
And, when I looked at the resources that Google Cloud can bring to bear, that was something I wanted to be a part of. … It was more just seeing the opportunity in front of us and knowing the culture of Google from a diversity perspective, a partner-first mentality. I was all in. But the AI piece was probably the inflection point for me.
CF: Let’s get into the AI bit for a minute. Google made a big splash with the debut of Gemini, the recent controversy notwithstanding. What are channel partners asking you about Gemini and how they can build business around it?
CK: I think even the controversy is important. We're all on a learning path. And I think what you're seeing from Google is just, "Hey, we're getting out here. We're making innovations. We're going to innovate quickly, but we're going to do it in a safe, secure way." What happened with Gemini is, I think, it was an inflection point, a step function, performance change and improvement. It was as good as, if not honestly better, in many different instances and that’s what caught the partners’ eyes.
CF: You’re filling some big shoes, taking over for Bron Hastings. Which of her initiatives do you plan to continue and where do you plan to perhaps diverge?
CK: I have a deep amount of respect for Bron and we joke that we've been pacing each other because I was at Citrix, she was at Citrix; it’s like, one of these days, we're going to get to actually work together as colleagues. I just think she's an amazing person. I think she created a great foundation here for the whole team from a program standpoint, from an incentives perspective, from how we go to market. I think it is a wonderful foundation to build from.
For me, that next phase is really supporting partner services, building their practices, getting that last-mile expertise, ensuring that we're getting partners into the sales cycle early enough. Selling services is difficult in some ways, and I think you have to be very aligned with your sales teams. It can't come after the fact, after the product sale. It's honestly too late. We’ve got to bring it in earlier.
So I’m working with the sales leadership to figure out how we continue to do that. How we increase our incentives, very much pivoting around AI investments, services, pre-sales investments. AI is a show-and-tell sales process. You have to the ability for partners to build products in a cost-effective way on top of our offerings. How can we support them with credits to do that? How do we support them with dollars to offset some of the costs of those services? Also, education. In my past lives, education has been looked at as a profit center. At Google, [it’s not that way]. It’s a teaching culture. They love bringing partners along on the journey and working on these projects together. And that's invaluable. So building on, I think, a great foundation that Bron on put in place and just continuing on it in terms of those these services, practices and expertise.
CF: What are some of partners’ big asks from you right now, and especially which ones do you think you'll be able to fulfill?
CK: It varies partner to partner. But I'm really looking forward to Next to listen to even more partners. Otherwise, I think it’s making sure that the right folks know when to plug us in at the right time; so, I think they’re looking for help on that branding piece and that visibility with … AI. And in talking to smaller partners as well, they want to know how to use the Google brand to help continue to develop opportunities. Some of the larger [partners] have amazing marketing departments. Some of the smaller ones don’t. They [say], "You’ve got this amazing brand. How can you help me continue to build out leads to opportunities?" And part of this messaging is part of that journey.
Google Cloud Next is coming to partners a bit earlier than usual this year. It’s taking place April 9-11, this time in Las Vegas. Channel Futures will be there to talk with key partner executives, including Kapase. Look for those updates next month. As for topics du jour? We expect to keep hearing even more around artificial intelligence. Stay tuned.
Google Cloud Next is coming to partners a bit earlier than usual this year. It’s taking place April 9-11, this time in Las Vegas. Channel Futures will be there to talk with key partner executives, including Kapase. Look for those updates next month. As for topics du jour? We expect to keep hearing even more around artificial intelligence. Stay tuned.
Ever since news broke that Colleen Kapase would join the Google Cloud partner program, Channel Futures has anxiously awaited the chance to interview her. We finally got to sit down with Kapase last week after she joined us on stage at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo to discuss the Silicon Valley giant's channel opportunity, its rivalry with the other hypserscalers and more.
Kapase, of course, is a familiar face to partners. She has worked in the technology indirect channel since 2001, beginning with Citrix, where she spent five years. After that, she led a number of channel initiatives at VMware for 13 years before jumping to data vendor Snowflake as senior vice president of worldwide partner and alliances.
In December, Kapase moved over to Google Cloud, against which she has both competed and teamed with in her previous roles, to succeed Bronywn Hastings. She now holds the title of vice president of channels and partner programs. (Hastings is running channel efforts at UiPath, where Rob Enslin, who served as Google Cloud president for three years, acts as co-CEO.)
Of interest is that Kapase joined the MSP Summit on March 11. Kapase says she was taken with the event and its plethora of managed service providers — so much so that she has been talking up her experience with Google Cloud corporate vice president Kevin Ichhpurani.
“I don't think there is a bigger partner event,” she said about Channel Partners. “Seeing [analyst] Jay McBain and having the Canalys connection there, coming back and explaining to Kevin the size and scope, I didn’t know if I knew [you] pivoted that much. I think it helped us set perceptions in a good way. … Sometimes you’ve got to see it and be in front of it.”
In addition, Kapase got to meet some partners that either don’t yet work with Google Cloud, and want to, or that want to ramp up their interactions with the provider.
“I’ve got to be honest, I picked up a couple of new partners on my radar screen that weren't on my radar screen before,” she said. “I came out of there with actionable things to get done and relationships to build.”
On top of that, Kapase was wowed by the venture capital activity she saw at the show.
“Getting investments in some of these higher-end partners is fantastic,” she said.
In the slideshow above, Kapase talks with Channel Futures about why she chose the Google Cloud partner program over other companies; what she thinks about the provider’s AI momentum; how she plans to move the Google Cloud partner program forward; what partners are asking for from her; and more.
Note that we have edited this conversation for clarity and length.
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