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June 9, 2011
3 Min Read
By samdizzy
Google resellers have a new goal to pursue. Indeed, the Google Reseller Program — spanning 3,000 partners worldwide — now has includes the Google Premier Resellers tier. And Google is starting to segment its reseller program to help customers find partners that serve specific market Google announced the new tier in a June 8 blog post. Still, the new Google Premier Reseller partner program tier also introduces a few questions.
Talkin’ Cloud certainly has some initial perspectives to share. But there’s a deeper story unfolding at Google. Chatter close to the company suggests that Google is trying to assist customers with consulting and break-fix services. Moreover, Google on June 15 appears set to launch Google Chromebooks for Business — which could give VARs and MSPs some new motivations to master hardware as a service (HaaS) coupled with SaaS and cloud computing.
Just the Facts
But let’s start with the story at hand: The new Google Premier Reseller tier. The Google partner program has four areas of focus:
Google Apps Reseller Program
Google Earth Reseller Program
Google Maps Reseller Program
Google Enterprise Search Reseller Program
Talkin’ Cloud focuses most of its Google coverage on the Google Apps Reseller Program, since that’s clearly defined for traditional VARs and MSPs getting into the cloud market. But the new Google Premier Reseller tier covers all four partner program areas. According to Google’s blog entry:
“Beginning today, we will start to recognize high-performing partners as Premier Resellers. Authorized Resellers remain a core focus for our Reseller program, and we will continue to invest in resources, tools and training to help Authorized Resellers succeed. For Authorized Resellers to become Premier Resellers, we have an objective set of eligibility criteria based on revenue, technical expertise and customer success. We are committed to working with each of our resellers to help them meet these specific qualifications.
We’re also introducing additional categorizations to help customers identify resellers who focus on specific Google products and specific size companies.
Lingering Questions
The new Google Premier Reseller tier prompts a few questions from Talkin’ Cloud:
Will premier resellers receive some sort of margin boost or revenue lift?
How much business do resellers need to generate to qualify for the Google Premier Reseller level?
How will Google measure customer success as part of the Google Premier Reseller level?
I hope to catch up with Google SMB Channel Lead Jeff Ragusa at the Schnizzfest conference this evening in Philadelphia. (Roughly 200 MSPs are set to attend.) I also have submitted some questions to Google PR for potential comment.
The Story Doesn’t End There
Meanwhile, several Talkin’ Cloud readers suggest that Google is preparing to launch some sort of consulting arm or consulting business to further assist enterprises with Google Apps. There could also be some break-fix components to the Google consulting service.
Talkin’ Cloud is digging for information. We expect to offer readers an update soon.
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