CRN speaks with channel partners regarding Google Cloud’s move to offer only one consistent discount to partners reselling GCP to enterprise customers.

Google Cloud is set to change its discount structure for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) resale by offering only one consistent discount when a channel partner resells GCP to large enterprises or in multimillion-dollar deals.

Colleen Kapase, vice president of channels and partner programs for Google Cloud, told CRN the company is removing the option for a partner, in some cases, to offer custom GCP discounting in deal sizes of around $5 million or more.

“We are just flattening and simplifying the way we do custom discounts at the top end of the market, in the largest deal sizes,” said Kapase, adding that partners still can resell GCP to existing and new customers.

“We’re not saying, ‘Hey, you can’t resell here in any customer market.’ That being said, there are some simplifications and streamlining in the high-end of the market, where we’ve seen customers do have a preference for simplification, to work directly with us,” Kapase said.

[Related: Google Cloud Changes GCP Partner Reseller Discount for Enterprises: Exec Colleen Kapase Explains Why]

Google declined to provide details on the one consistent partner discount being implemented for large enterprise deals. The change doesn’t go into effect until the second half of 2025.

Partner: Changes Might ‘Affect Us Winning New Deals’

CRN spoke with several channel partners about this new GCP discount change.

Many said the partner community saw this coming from a mile away since Google Cloud has been telling partners for years to shift away from traditional GCP resale and move into more strategic services like transformational professional services and AI offerings.

However, one partner said the move could make it harder for his company to win net new deals when going head-to-head against competitors like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft partners when price is a factor.

“It might affect us winning new deals because that discount can help us win customers who are looking at [Microsoft] Azure or Amazon because we can offer a better price through a discount,” said one CEO of a national Google Cloud partner, who declined to be identified.

“This isn’t going to impact my current book of business, but it’s problematic for my team when they’re going out there trying to win new business,” said the CEO. “They’re making it harder for partners to win new resale deals. … I understand—they’ve been shoveling all their channel dollars towards services—but it’s pushing every partner into a services bucket whether we have the technical staff or not.”

Another CEO from a regional Google Cloud partner believes that Google is trying to push sales reps into every large customer account.

“Google has to approve partner-requested discounts today, so why the change?” said the CEO of a regional Google Cloud partner who did not want to be named. “It appears that Google wants their reps involved in every large deal. I don’t know if Google feels the need to be in control, or if Google doesn’t trust some of its best and largest partners.”

Many Partners Have Shifted Towards Services; ‘Customers Don’t Get Too Much Value From A Pure Reseller’

66degrees CEO Ben Kessler said Google Cloud’s move to changes its reseller GCP discount “isn’t a surprise for us at all.”

“It’s very consistent with the message that they’ve given us over the past few years,” said Kessler, who leads Google Cloud national partner 66degrees.

“This will impact some partners, but we’ve made the intentional shift about four years ago to move from being a resell-led partner to being a services-led partner,” said Kessler. “There won’t be much of an impact on us because we’re focused largely on mid-market enterprise customers. … They’re not touching mid-market. They’re not touching Google Workspace.”

Sanjay Singh, CEO of Onix, a top global Google Cloud partner who counts more than half of the Fortune 500 companies as its customers, is in favor of the change.

“Enterprise customers don’t get too much value just from a pure reseller who is just doing transaction. That is not the nature of the market’s demand today,” said Singh.

Onix provides services to more than 300 clients from Fortune 500 companies. Singh said enterprise customers are not looking at GCP resale as a game-changing strategy.

“They want the technology platform to be implemented and deployed very quickly. They want partners like us to come and advise them on their transformation roadmap. They are using data, AI and working with their business to identify use cases, helping reduce the complexity of the technology environment that they have, and making them adept at driving this new capability in-house with training and alignment at scale. This is what we see across all our sectors that we service our customers in— whether they’ve been in enterprise or they be it in midmarket enterprise, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “The ask from the partners like us are the same: Help us implement the tech. Help us deploy this at scale. Help me transform my business quickly. Help me identify points of transformation, where I can get competitive advantage and help me drive my business innovation.”

“They are not necessarily looking for a partner who is just going to transact on paper and just collect licensing business—we don’t see that happening in our large enterprise customer base,” he said. “In almost all the engagements, customers will partner with you only if you provide value at the highest level.”

Google Cloud Launching New ‘Nine-Figure Investment Fund’ For Partners In 2025

Starting January 2025, Google Cloud is launching a “nine-figure investment fund” aimed at driving profitability for services-led Google partners.

“This fund is going to provide incentives and rebates for qualified services work and support partners to continue helping drive proof of concepts, implementations, training on AI models, etc.” Google Cloud’s Kapase said. “Managed service providers have been around for a while, but now we’re seeing more often AI-as-a-Service, SecOps and Security Ops as-a-Service services partners.”

“We’re going to be moving to more of a co-sell motion with our services partners,” Kapase said. “This is where our sales team can work along with our partners, regardless of how the transaction is being done, and really keep bringing our partners in earlier in the sales cycle—very much with an intention for them to position their services delivery capabilities.”

66degrees CEO Kessler said the new partner funding shows, yet again, that Google is telling partners where to move.

“Google is investing in partners to drive professional services. That’s awesome for us and our 400 consultants,” Kessler said. “The strategy Google laid out two or three years ago and the strategy we started to arc towards—these programs are just reinforcing what they’re saying. Their actions are really consistent with their strategy.”

Overall, Kapase said Google Cloud is offering “an incredibly high margin opportunity,” for partners.

“The industry continues to evolve to a services mindset. It makes you incredibly sticky with your customers when you’re helping them get the outcomes,” said Kapase. “I think that’s certainly true in a cloud world. It’s even more true in an AI world.”