Google Cloud’s Jim Anderson Talks ‘Ecosystem and Channel’ Changes
The cloud provider is bringing its direct and partner teams into one organization. Find out what that means.
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Channel Futures: What made now the time to bring partners into Google Cloud’s direct sales organization?
Google Cloud’s Jim Anderson: Our goal is to be the “voice of the partner” in our sales organization. We’ve always worked closely with partners, but as customer demand and the market opportunity grew, we saw an opportunity to streamline the way our field works with partners. We’ll be this “connective tissue” helping our field teams bring in the right partner at the right time for their customer. This year, we are particularly focused on bringing partners into longer-term, high-value services projects with customers where we know partners can leverage our technology to drive business outcomes.
CF: What feedback are you hearing from partners?
JA: Demand from customers has soared, and our partners want to work with us to address this opportunity. Moreover, our partners want to be strategic, long-term business partners for customers — not just a one-time reseller. To that end, we’re very focused on supporting partners who are delivering key services to customers, like migration services or managed services. We’re also investing heavily in supporting our partners, including doubling our spend on partners in the next several years.
CF: How are you planning to reach and enable more smaller partners, not just the big guys, through this effort?
JA: It’s important to note that we’ve announced we’re doubling our spend on partners in the coming years, and this is relevant for all our partners, large and small. But ultimately, we think in terms of “who is the right partner to add value for a customer,” and that may mean bringing in a small partner who is highly specialized in a particular service area, or maybe one of our global SIs. Our Partner Advantage program gives all our partners access to resources, funding, incentives and expertise to help them grow with Google Cloud and address soaring customer demand.
CF: In which regions does this effort (teaming channel and direct) apply? Global? Only certain areas?
JA: My team is focused on supporting customers and partners in North America, and you can expect to see us invest similarly in other regions.
CF: What exactly does this new initiative look like? In other words, how are partners and direct sales teams working together, and, in addition, how is any conflict avoided or resolved?
JA: First, it’s important to note that our field is already working closely with partners — we’ve been committed to the goal of attaching partners to 100% of customer engagements for several years. This new team is bringing together various people and resources from across our organization to give partners a more streamlined experience. For example, a member of our sales team may be working with a customer in the financial services industry who needs rapid support as they migrate workloads out of their own data center and onto Google Cloud. That salesperson can work with our team to identify a partner with the right, proven experience in migration services, and bring them in to support that customer.
CF: How does your organization work with Kevin Ichhpurani’s (formerly Carolee Gearhart’s) group?
JA:: We have a very tight partnership with Kevin’s teams. The global partner team sets our global agenda to support our partners, and we act locally with that agenda to bring partners in North America into the right customer engagements at the right time. Our Specializations program is a great example of this. Kevin’s team, who leads our global Partner Advantage program, is doing an awesome job launching new specializations that enable partners to demonstrate their depth of experience in a particular product area. Our team can then connect those specialized partners to the North American customer accounts where they can add value.
CF: What principles or philosophies are guiding your leadership as you bring channel and field sales together?
JA: I like to think of cloud transformation as a journey, not a transaction, so I’m really excited to work with our partners and go-to-market teams to bring partners into more long-term, strategic engagements with customers.
CF: What are your expectations for this newly combined organization for 2022? What outcomes are you pursuing throughout the year?
JA: We’re committed to our goal of attaching partners to 100% of customer engagements. And increasingly, these engagements will represent multiyear, strategic opportunities for our customers. I encourage our partners to build deep expertise in product areas and industries that will put them in a position to support customers in this way.
CF: What are your expectations for this newly combined organization for 2022? What outcomes are you pursuing throughout the year?
JA: We’re committed to our goal of attaching partners to 100% of customer engagements. And increasingly, these engagements will represent multiyear, strategic opportunities for our customers. I encourage our partners to build deep expertise in product areas and industries that will put them in a position to support customers in this way.
Google Cloud has undergone a lot of change since the beginning of this year, especially in terms of the idea of ecosystem and channel.
Notably, Kevin Ichhpurani replaced Carolee Gearhart as channel chief. His title, unlike Gearhart’s, contains that vital “ecosystem and channel” reference.
At the same time, Google Cloud made a commitment to combine its “ecosystem and channel sales teams into a single partner organization to bring a more streamlined go-to-market approach for our partners and customers.”
That was the word from Ichhpurani in January, when he further discussed Google Cloud’s plans to “more than double our spend” on partners over the next few years. Those efforts include more resources, incentives, co-marketing funds, and training and enablement as the world’s third-largest public cloud provider shifts toward an ecosystem mindset. This change holds industry-wide implications, something we’re exploring for upcoming coverage.
Google Cloud’s Jim Anderson
Still, Channel Futures wanted to better understand Google Cloud’s efforts to bring partners and direct teams together. To that end, we secured a Q&A with Jim Anderson. Anderson serves as managing director of the North America partner ecosystem and channels at Google Cloud.
Take a stroll through our slideshow above for our chat with Anderson to learn more about what recent ecosystem and channel changes at Google Cloud mean for partners.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Kelly Teal or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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