IDC: Google Cloud GSI partners will triple professional services capacity by 2025

Enterprises are selecting Google Cloud for their biggest digital transformation projects, utilizing our trusted infrastructure, powerful data and AI capabilities, cybersecurity services, industry solutions, and more to address their biggest opportunities. 

And because we’re partner-led in services delivery, our ecosystem—particularly our global systems integrator and consulting partners (GSIs) like Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte, and TCS, and more—play a tremendous role helping enterprise customers plan, execute, and manage their digital transformations on Google Cloud. These large innovation projects are only accelerating, which means it’s critical that partners continue to develop the services capacity and deep expertise that customers need.

Today, I’m excited to share a new study from IDC that demonstrates the significant investments that GSIs have made in their Google Cloud practices over the last several years. In fact, IDC found that our GSI partners have grown their skilled Google Cloud resources by as much as 10X in the past three years. Furthermore, GSI’s Google Cloud practices are strongly outpacing industry growth—a testament to the customer value that these partners create with Google Cloud products.

According to the study, this growth will continue: IDC expects GSI partners will more than triple their professional services capacity for Google Cloud customers by 2025. Additionally, the new IDC research demonstrates that our differentiated approach to partnering, along with GSIs growing investments in services delivery, are creating value for partners and customers alike. Here were some of the topline findings:

• We collaborate, not compete with our partners: GSIs validated we are staying true to our mission of being a partner-first organization. IDC said they “reaffirmed that this commitment is a differentiator for their businesses,” and they “are able to work in clearly-defined swim lanes alongside Google Cloud, and this is not often the case among hyperscalers.”

• GSIs are seeing larger and longer-term engagements with customers: Customer deals have increased significantly in size, complexity, and duration, with a major increase in large-scale deals, usually ranging from two to five years.

• Our open, multi-cloud approach benefits customers and partners: According to IDC, “Elsewhere in the industry, customers and partners can face licensing barriers that prevent them from adopting more modern, cost-effective solutions alongside their legacy infrastructure or software. Google Cloud's position as a ‘cloud-first’ company minimizes this friction.”

• GSIs are on board to help customers see value from bleeding-edge technology like generative AI: GSIs have collectively committed to train more than 150,000 experts on Google Cloud’s generative AI, which will ensure customers identify the best applications of generative AI and successfully deploy it within their businesses. 

• Google Cloud’s strengths in data and infrastructure modernization, analytics, and AI are driving many customer engagements for GSIs: Partners said that these product areas are among Google Cloud’s primary differentiators, and they are creating meaningful opportunities for customers to solve business challenges. 

The IDC White Paper echoes what we hear from customers and partners every day. For example, Accenture is helping LendLease protect its infrastructure with a security solution that utilizes Chronicle Security Operations and Google Cloud AI; Capgemini supported L’Oréal with a solution based on Google Cloud, Apigee API Management, and BigQuery to connect the tools and systems to support scannable QR codes; and, Deloitte is working with Kroger to improve grocery associate productivity using Google Cloud’s data analytics and AI.

IDC’s White Paper is titled: “Google Cloud: Empowering Global System Integrators for Joint Success^*” and was sponsored by Google. You can read it here, and read more about Google Cloud’s partner program here. 

^{*doc #US50743723, August 2023}