Independent software vendors can now receive an identical support as Google resellers.

At its second annual Global Partner Summit on Thursday, Google launched a program to support its Google Apps technology partners and to assist them create software that augments Google’s cloud-based applications. The corporate also expanded and reorganized its Cloud Platform Partner Program into three tiers to offer differentiated partnership levels and to present a path for any company to take part.

Google first set its eyes at the enterprise market in 2002 with the discharge of its Search Appliance and got fascinated about building a Google Apps partner ecosystem in 2005, adding an Apps reseller program in 2009 and a business-oriented Apps Marketplace in 2010. In parallel, Google launched App Engine in 2008 and the cloud-based application hosting service has since evolved into the Google Cloud Platform, which competes for corporate computing business with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, among other cloud-oriented offerings.

In 2005, Google said it had 2,000 enterprise customers. Today, it claims greater than 5 million businesses use its products, from its search hardware to its cloud-based apps. Google said on the summit it has greater than 10,000 Google Apps resellers. That’s up from 6,000 in July 2012. The company also said Apps customers have added over 200 million installs of partners apps from the Google Apps Marketplace and that its Apps Marketplace now has greater than 750 apps (a coarse measure of Google-focused ISVs). It has admitted 161 partners into its Cloud Platform Partner Program.

To join the Google Apps Tech Partner Program, independent software vendors (ISVs) must meet specific criteria established by Google and must sign a freelance. Thereafter, they receive access to an analogous benefits Google provides to its resellers: partner community newsletters and webinars, favorable placement within the Google Apps Marketplace, and access to the web partner content and coaching materials.

Partnerships with ISVs and IT service resellers had been instrumental inside the growth of Google’s enterprise products. In line with a report issued by consultancy Frost & Sullivan last month, 33% of Google Apps administrators overseeing corporate IT infrastructure cite third-party applications as important or important in helping their organization adopt Google Apps. Half them consider third-party apps helpful in making the move to the cloud. The Google Apps Marketplace, where ISVs can sell their wares, gives Google’s enterprise ecosystem greater gravity.

Scott Strawn, an analyst with research firm IDC, sees the growth of Google’s partner programs as an indication the corporate is making progress in its effort to draw business customers.”That is an illustration that Google is attending to a scale where ISVs are saying it’s worth our time to be told to implement Google’s technology,” he said in a phone interview.

Although Strawn said it’s difficult to evaluate success within the enterprise market because Google and its competitors don’t release detailed customer data, Google’s enterprise customer base has grown big enough that Microsoft, long unchallenged because the primary source of office productivity software for businesses, has responded with Office 365, its Azure cloud platform, and a company reboot.

[Just how good is Google’s cloud? Read Google Cloud Performance Stability: a better Look.]

The proven fact that Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella previously headed Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group attests to the significance that the corporate places on enterprise cloud computing and on its competition with Google. One particular data point from Frost & Sullivan’s report underscores the threat Google presents: In a survey of one,158 IT administrators at companies that had implemented Google Apps, “only 42% of administrators plan to continue investing in Microsoft Office products for almost all in their workforce.”

Once you “go Google,” it’s possible you’ll not return to Microsoft.

“Google’s goal with Google Apps is to supply solutions that meet the commonest needs of users at work,” explained Rahul Sood, director of product management for enterprise apps at Google, said in phone interview. These needs include messaging, storage, document editing, video meetings, and collaboration tools.

Sood said that Google’s customers also need complementary line of industrial tools and industry-specific applications. That’s why ISVs and partners are so important, he emphasized. They carry and customize apps that interact with Google service APIs, just like the Drive SDK or the Admin SDK. They deliver specific services that make Google Apps and Google Cloud Platform a viable choice for businesses with particular needs.

Google’s decision to support its ISVs inside the same way that it supports its resellers demonstrates the price partner companies bring to Google’s ecosystem. Sood said Google desires to recognize partners for the standard in their work and for the success in their integrations by providing marketing and sales support. The ISV program will provide help to discover apps endorsed by Google, he said.

One ISV making the most of Google’s attentions is UberConference, a corporation run by Craig Walker, who helped found telephony startup GrandCentral, which was acquired by Google and was Google Voice.

In a phone interview, Walker said being a Google technology partner “was really, advisable in that we have got access to their APIs and developer relations.”

Last month, UberConference launched a version of its software that integrates with Google Hangouts, turning Google’s consumer-oriented video chat and conferencing service into something more desirable for businesses. The combination allows Hangouts users so as to add UberConference easily to a Hangouts session by invoking a sidebar with product-specific controls. It lets users join Hangouts from any phone, no Web connection required, and offers support for as much as 100 users at a time.

Being a Google technology partner hastened the construction process for UberConference. Walker said that while UberConference had already integrated Google Sign-In and Google Drive, the Google Hangouts app went particularly quickly. “We got to work on it in early January and we launched it in early February,” he said. “The Google guys were sure easy to work with and the APIs were very clear.”

UberConference perhaps also benefited from Walker’s past ties to Google and his familiarity with the technology. Nevertheless, with just a month’s work, UberConference’s Hangouts app has racked up 100,000 customer installations and almost as many conference sessions. Walker said the tight integration between UberConference and Hangouts makes your entire difference.

At the Summit, DocuSign product manager Ryan Hutnick described how his company has integrated its digital transaction management service into Google Apps and Drive. He noted that consumer familiarity with DocuSign, through activities like renting an apartment or buying a home, has hastened business adoption. Sood, moderating on-stage, noted that this type of viral adoption has tended to be the style Google usage spreads.

The integration of software applications from different companies isn’t new, but with the shift toward cloud computing, integration takes on a brand new dynamic: The mixing of cloud-based apps benefits Google, the partner, and everybody invested in Google’s ecosystem. It gets magnified by network effects. It goes beyond some great benefits of creating software that reinforces a single app in a desktop environment.

“We predict [our tech partner program] goes to be a win-win for absolutely everyone, for Google partners and customers,” said Sood. The identical probably cannot be said for Google’s competitors.

[Corrected figures for Apps installation by partners.]

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Thomas Claburn have been writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications akin to New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and tv, having earned a not particularly useful … View Full Bio

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