Report Card 2010: Google Apps for Channel Partners

It’s hard to sum up 2010 when it comes to a company like Google. After all, the company has its fingers in multiple pots. But the overarching theme for Google this year has always been a play for increased legitimacy in the enterprise and the channel alike — and, for the most part, Google Apps has generated success on both fronts. But 2010 also saw Google Apps face some of its biggest challenges yet.

Google did have its share of successes: the Google Apps Marketplace, a SaaS enterprise add-on app store, drew plenty of independent cloud developer support following its launch in March 2010. Even SaaS productivity competitors like Zoho got in on the action with their CRM solutions.

The Google Apps suite itself got some reseller-friendly enhancements, to boot — while no major new applications made their way to enterprise customers as anything more than a beta, 2010 saw Google refine the offering with reporting APIs and scripting for Google Sites. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: just searching TalkinCloud or our sister blogs (The VAR Guy and MSPmentor) shows the endless parade of iterative updates to the Google Apps platform.

But it hasn’t been a year without friction for Google. Both Google Buzz and Google Wave failed to attract sufficient audiences to amount to even a blip on the enterprise screen, though the latter would eventually find new life as Novell Pulse and SAP StreamWork.

What’s more, Microsoft has been waging a relentless PR campaign against Google, questioning their enterprise-readiness and undermining channel efforts. Even Oracle is launching an open source Google Apps competitor designed to address privacy and lock-in concerns around Google Apps.

Compliance was also a hot-button issue this year, as shown by the launch of Google Apps for Government — a version of the suite designed to meet the more stringent needs of federal and state agencies. While it certainly brought Google more customers, targeting the government also brought the battle with Microsoft to a new front: the courtroom.

But conversations with some Google resellers has revealed confidence in the cloud giant: the fact that some established IT world movers-and-shakers are even mentioning Google is a major legitimizing factor for their preferred solution. And Google Apps partners have the customer deals to back up a little bravado.

For more about the Google Apps Authorized Reseller Program and where it’s heading in 2011, check out this TalkinCloud FastChat video with Google Apps Channel Director Stephen Cho.

TalkinCloud’s final word: Google Apps is experiencing some growing pains as the service strives to establish itself as a major channel player. But Google has had enough successes in a market to warrant plenty of attention for 2011.

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