gSocial Conference: Some Final Google Apps Partner Thoughts

The overall sentiment of a discussion panel titled “Competing Against Microsoft” was that Office 365 is more of a marketing obstacle than a technical one. Panelists from reseller firms Esnatech, Business Intelligence 101 and AccuCode repeated many of my own criticisms of Microsoft’s cloud suite, from its reliance on desktop software to its relative unreliability. But Google Apps partners are finding that customers, especially at larger firms, still see Microsoft as a necessary business partner regardless of cost.

The “Channel Development Best Practices” panel discussion made it pretty clear just how fledgling Google’s channel efforts really are: The ISVs in attendance tried their best to talk out the best way to help resellers succeed, proposed various methods of engaging with prospective partners, and essentially showed their lack of experience with working under an indirect sales model. It’s understandable — but it sounded like a lot of Google ISVs could use a channel coach.

The “Selling into the Enterprise and SMB Markets” panel discussion essentially discussed how the Google Apps platform has been maturing, with some praise reserved for how quickly Google adds new features and works to address shortcomings.