Google Gambles on Caesers Exec to Lead Enterprise Cloud Sales

Google new president of enterprise sales formerly served as chief commercial officer for Caesars Entertainment Corp. 

According to a report by Recode this week, Google hired Tariq Shaukat to oversee sales for enterprise apps, cloud services and devices.

Shaukat spent four years at Caesers where he oversaw sales, marketing, distribution, analytics, gaming and commerce, according to Network World. Prior to that he was a partner at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. 

Bringing on executives like Shaukat with enterprise experience can only help Google’s case as it continues to push enterprise cloud business. Google is already making strides in the mobile area with a recent report that finds use of Google Apps on mobile outpaces Office by 700 percent.

Diane Greene, head of cloud computing at Google, has made many public remarks in recent weeks about Google’s cloud ambitions, noting that Google is “quite enterprise ready” as enterprises indicate they are looking for more than one cloud. 

The hire comes a few weeks after Amit Singh, Google’s head of enterprise business, including Google for Work, left the division to assume the position of vice president of business and operations for Google VR.