Marketplace Exchange: Partnership perks with Google Cloud

One of the best things about my job is collaborating with our ISV partners on mutual growth strategies through Google Cloud Marketplace. As a partner-first organization, Google Cloud invests in growing our channel relationships through activities that help ISVs flourish within our ecosystem and accelerate our joint business. 

A great example is our Marketplace Video Series, which spotlights partner offerings on Marketplace and the ease of procurement for our customers, enabling our partners to better share their message with their customers. We also had our recent North America Marketplace Exchange, an in-person event we hosted at Google’s inspiring Spruce Goose office space in L.A, where we had the chance to be in a room alongside Google Cloud ISV Partners, to share go-to-market best practices and explore new opportunities for collaboration. 

Cloud marketplaces are transforming how software is bought and sold

As a business model, cloud marketplaces are gaining traction even faster than experts predicted – so much so that industry analyst firm Canalys was forced to double its previous growth forecasts.¹ They now expect that by 2025, cloud marketplaces will grow to more than $45 billion, representing an 84% compound annual growth rate.²

The number of Cloud 100 companies actively selling on at least one cloud marketplace is predicted to hit 80% this year.³ Clearly, cloud marketplaces are now strategic, actionable route-to-market (RTM) opportunities for thousands of software and hardware vendors and services partners.

It’s our belief that to be customer-centric, it’s necessary to be partner-first. We work with ISV partners to make our solutions better together, which provides customers with a wealth of choice in how to transform and innovate.

This open approach to partner innovation, and our commitment to putting partners first, has helped make our marketplace a go-to destination for partners and customers to deploy enterprise applications. It might explain why the number of new cloud marketplace buyers grew 200% from Q1 to Q4 2022.⁴ 

Google Cloud Marketplace enables ISV partner success

We strive to be the most partner-friendly cloud continuing to invest in providing new resources, programs, and tools to help our partners gain traction in our Marketplace and deliver success for customers.  

For Quantum Metric, the relationship has allowed the business to broaden its customer base. “Quantum Metric is a horizontal application, but we went with a vertical approach for the Google Cloud partnership and it paid dividends,” says Jake Makler, VP of Strategy and Partnerships at Quantum Metric and one of our speakers at Marketplace Exchange. “We started with Retail, and after building a brand within Google, we were able to quickly expand into Financial Services, Travel, and Media with great success.” 

Derek Russell, the Sr. Partner Manager at Confluent and another speaker at Marketplace Exchange shared that “Marketplace makes it much easier for customers to procure Confluent, which in turn accelerates our deal cycles.”

Chris Archinal, Global Alliance Sales Director at Exabeam, another speaker at Marketplace Exchange and the star of Exabeam’s video in our Marketplace Video Series, shares that, “Google Cloud Marketplace helps us find and use budget earmarked for Google, and also block out competitors that are not able to transact there. Plus, we can expedite transactions thanks to Google’s influence in aligning more senior relationships with customers, and leverage the incredible Google brand. Since our Exabeam Marketplace offering is available through Private Offers only, it’s critical that we train our sales teams to ask their customers and prospects about their existing Google Cloud footprint. If there is a GCP presence then we know they have a propensity to buy via Marketplace.”

Take a closer look at Marketplace

I invite you to explore Google Cloud Marketplace, and check out in-depth successful partner stories in our Marketplace Video Series, to hear how our leading partners are positioning their solutions on Marketplace for success. 

<sup>1. Channel Futures article 
2. Canalys 2023 Outlook
3. Bessemer Ventures, State of the Cloud 2022
4. Tackle.io Revenue Pulse - April 2023</sup>