Techaisle Blog

As the technology landscape continues to evolve rapidly, the success of hyperscaler vendors hinges significantly on the strength and effectiveness of their partner ecosystems. For partners navigating the complexities of multiple vendor relationships and an increasingly demanding customer base, the portals and tools these vendors provide are not just administrative interfaces - they are critical enablers of profitability and growth. Against this backdrop, Google Cloud's new Earnings Hub, launched at Google Cloud Next Partner Summit, is a compelling example of what a truly partner-centric platform can achieve, setting a new benchmark that other vendors would emulate.

My analysis suggests that Google Cloud's Earnings Hub is not merely an incremental update but a significant leap forward in providing partners with the visibility, insights, and tools necessary to thrive. It directly addresses partners' long-standing pain points and offers a glimpse into the future of vendor-partner collaboration, heavily leveraging data and artificial intelligence.

Google Cloud has consistently been at the forefront of innovation, providing cutting-edge solutions to meet the diverse needs of businesses worldwide. One of its latest advancements, the Google Cloud Earnings Hub, is a testament to its commitment to empowering partners and driving mutual success. This comprehensive platform is designed to streamline partner engagement, enhance visibility, and provide actionable insights, making it far ahead of many other partner hubs in the industry. In this analysis, I will delve into the features, functionalities, and advantages of the Google Cloud Earnings Hub, exploring the challenges it addresses for partners in vendor and customer engagements.

The Google Cloud Earnings Hub is a centralized platform that serves as a one-stop shop for all partner-related information and activities. Launched to foster transparency, collaboration, and growth, Earnings Hub offers a range of tools and resources that enable partners to maximize their earnings, optimize their strategies, and enhance their overall performance. Whether it's accessing funding programs, rebates, credits, or discounts, Earnings Hub provides partners with a holistic view of their financial incentives and opportunities.

Critically, recent Techaisle global channel partner surveys, encompassing 2500 partners, underscore key partner requirements for vendor portals. The data reveals that 62% of partners desire an action-oriented portal, enabling them to take direct steps based on the information presented. Furthermore, 57% are actively seeking portals that facilitate robust performance tracking, allowing them to monitor their progress and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, 49% emphasize the need for complete visibility into their relationship with the vendor, including financial performance and program status. Google Cloud's Earnings Hub directly addresses these fundamental partner needs by providing actionable insights, comprehensive performance tracking capabilities, and complete financial visibility.

In today's business landscape, characterized by economic volatility, geopolitical conflicts, and an unrelenting pace of technological change, CEOs feel immense pressure. They are tasked with the challenging duality of funding existing operations while simultaneously investing in innovation and driving growth. These were the themes laid out by Mohamad Ali, SVP and Head of IBM Consulting, during his keynote at their annual Think conference. Technology, particularly AI, is no longer just a tool; it has become the source of competitive advantage. Yet, navigating this new era is complex, and many organizations are struggling to move beyond AI experimentation to realize tangible business value. This is where consulting plays a crucial role, and IBM Consulting is positioning itself uniquely with an approach it calls the "Science of Consulting".

Defining the 'Science of Consulting

At its core, the "Science of Consulting" is about combining science and technology, including AI, with IBM's deep pool of human talent – its consultants, engineers, and designers – to deliver "outsized results" for clients. This represents an evolution of the traditional consulting model, acknowledging that in the age of AI, human expertise must be augmented and accelerated by technology.

The debut of IBM Partner Plus marked a significant evolution from the previous PartnerWorld program, specifically designed to accelerate partner business velocity in a rapidly changing cloud adoption landscape. Key to this launch were interconnected enablers such as insider access to sales and training materials, a focus on competitive and transparent incentives, and enhanced support for skill development in critical areas like AI and cloud. The program also introduced a simplified IBM Partner Portal offering real-time incentive visibility, an automated deal share engine, and increased co-marketing and co-sell support investments. These initial steps laid the groundwork for the simplified engagement, enhanced partner enablement, and targeted incentives, demonstrating a consistent strategic thread from the program's inception to its current manifestation in driving AI and hybrid cloud adoption through the ecosystem.

By establishing a program designed for diverse partner models and emphasizing transparency and support from the outset, IBM Partner Plus created an environment conducive to the "Build, Sell, Service" pillars and the incentivization of high-growth areas like Software as a Service (SaaS) and AI. The program's foundational goal of aligning with partners expanding their cloud market presence directly correlates with the current strategy to leverage the ecosystem for broader reach and deeper client engagement in AI and hybrid cloud solutions. This continuity underscores IBM's sustained commitment to its partners as central to achieving scale and success in these transformative technology areas.

The strategic alignment with partners, crucial for success, reflects the fundamental reality that in the dynamic world of enterprise technology at the intersection of AI and hybrid cloud, scale is paramount, and achieving this requires not only innovative products but also a robust and interconnected ecosystem. IBM's strategy for driving growth in the AI and hybrid cloud era is deeply rooted in cultivating a vibrant ecosystem – a community of diverse participants, including value-added distributors (VADs), resellers (VARs), service partners, and independent software vendors (ISVs), working harmoniously towards mutually beneficial outcomes.

The objective of IBM's ecosystem strategy is straightforward: to work hand-in-hand with partners to scale the IBM technology business in a way that benefits everyone involved. This requires a deep understanding of each partner type's diverse needs and drivers and aligning those towards common goals, specifically seizing the significant opportunities presented by AI and hybrid cloud.

The accelerating pace of technological evolution has undeniably cemented information technology's role as a fundamental driver of success across the business spectrum. However, within the dynamic SMB and mid-market segments, the intricate dependencies and escalating complexities of IT infrastructure and application portfolios present perhaps the most significant challenges. As these organizations grapple with managing an ever-widening array of sophisticated technologies, the demand for knowledgeable, trustworthy guidance transcends mere preference; it becomes a strategic imperative. Pertinently, Techaisle research consistently highlights that a substantial majority of SMBs and mid-market firms actively seek out and favor suppliers who provide technology advisory services firmly rooted in addressing specific business issues, valuing providers who demonstrate a genuine, vested interest in their long-term success. Navigating this increasingly complex IT landscape necessitates more than just product procurement; it demands the consistent presence and expertise of a trusted advisor. It is precisely this critical market need for informed, reliable guidance that Dell Technologies strategically addresses.

More Than Sales: Dell's Investment in Small Business Advisory and Success

Dell Technologies recognized this imperative early on, launching its Small Business Advisor program in May 2016 with the core mission of simplifying technology complexity and smoothing the path from consideration to purchase. My earlier exploration of this program highlighted Dell’s commitment, including a substantial multi-million dollar investment in training and resources, underscoring a dedication to small business success. This initiative was built on the understanding that while there might be a perception of Dell advisors solely focusing on PC sales, the reality is a commitment to advising and selling end-to-end solutions. For more intricate requirements, such as digital transformation initiatives, Dell established clear second-level escalation pathways, ensuring that front-line advisors could connect small business needs with large order specialists or technical resources capable of providing comprehensive, end-to-end infrastructure guidance and configure solutions tailored to specific customer requirements. The emphasis was, and continues to be, on advisors acting not as mere sales agents but as experts capable of assessing a small business's position in its technology journey and offering contextual guidance. Its objective is to counsel customers on their immediate needs, potential future solutions, necessary fixes, and optimal next steps, fostering a more holistic and positive customer experience.