Google Cloud Marketplace: Partners Can Sell ISV Offers

Google Cloud is letting channel partners remain the partner of choice – and partner of record – for customers transacting the Google Cloud Marketplace.

The public cloud provider on Wednesday introduced Marketplace Channel Private Offers that independent software vendors (ISVs) on the platform can make available for their reseller partners. Channel partners can sell qualifying ISV partner solutions that count for their customers' existing Google Cloud commitments.

"We believe that Marketplace Channel Private Offers will serve as an enabling platform for channel partners – another route to market through which to generate business opportunities," wrote Dai Vu, managing director of Google Cloud Marketplace and ISV go-to-market programs, and Matthias Staacke, senior product manager of Google Cloud Marketplace.

Google Cloud's Dai Vu

The feature functionally creates a "privileged environment" in the marketplace where ISVs can onboard their preferred channel partners, who will in turn sell the ISVs' solutions on the marketplace.

Google Cloud's Matthias Staacke

Vu and Staacke wrote in a blog post that the innovation will make the procurement process more simple and let customers "govern third-party solutions running in their Google Cloud environment."

Owning the Transaction and the Customer

That environment allows for three levels of reseller discounting: "at the parent billing account, customer sub-billing account and the opportunity level."

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Partners in turn will identify ISV private offer plans they want to sell and use the Partner Sales Console in Google Cloud Marketplace to understand the margin equation.

After they make the sale, they will hold responsibility for billing, invoicing and revenue recognition. And that seemed to be a feature Google Cloud was intent to emphasize. Josh Bushman, WWT's global lead for cloud marketplace, said those options have been tough to come by in other marketplace private offers.

“What is unique about Marketplace Channel Private Offers is that Google Cloud has enabled us to maintain our relationship as the partner of record with our clients and to continue to manage billing with customers," Bushman said.

Harjeet Khalsa, Carahsoft's sales director for Google Public Sector, emphasized the importance of owning the billing.

"This capability alone is a significant value-add for customers in industries such as the public sector where channel partners typically own the relationship with the end customer," Khalsa said.

Moreover, channel partner transactions on the marketplace won't incur an incremental fee, according to the blog post.

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Expanding Partner Access

Last year Google Cloud granted ISV partners the ability to offer discounts on the Google Cloud Marketplace to certain resellers.

Now the hyperscaler is piloting ways to onboard partners who are rookies to the marketplace. The current pilot bypasses requirements of Partner Advantage Sell engagement model authorization and Google Cloud technical certifications.

Cloud computing rival Amazon Web Services introduced Channel Partner Private Offers last year. According to AWS, ISVs can authorize channel partners for wholesale pricing for software and professional services. Moreover, those partners own the "financial and contractual relationship."

Choice

Google Cloud in its announcement restated its pledge to an "open cloud," in which customers can fulfil their cloud commitments by purchasing software from either Google Cloud or a third-party listing on the Google Cloud Marketplace.

And other partners and ISVs, such as Red Hat, state a similar commitment to an "enterprise-ready open source" hybrid cloud.

"We are excited that the latest developments to Google Cloud Marketplace will enable us to further accelerate joint go-to-market solutions with not only Google Cloud, but partners across the ecosystem," Red Hat senior vice president of ecosystem success Stefanie Chiras said.

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