Building an AI proof of concept takes weeks, but making it production-ready takes a team. That's why Google Cloud partner Promevo is expanding its team to service a flood of AI projects.
Promevo is hiring in service delivery to help talent-strapped midmarket and enterprise businesses deploy various Google AI capabilities including Gemini Enterprise and Vertex AI.
“Projects pop up, and we just have to keep staffing to meet the demand,” Promevo CTO John Pettit told Channel Dive.
Though many enterprise projects focus on a relatively straightforward GPT wrapper for their domain, Pettit said businesses are running into unexpected complexity.
“They get out of the gate really quick with POCs, and then they sometimes come to us and say, 'Hey, can you make this so that we don't worry about it running live forever?' That's probably the new pattern shift. You can prototype anything really quick with a GPT wrapper, but once you realize it has value, then you start to worry about its longevity,” he said.
Businesses also need help for ongoing monitoring, patching and governance. One client is tapping Promevo to help them optimize Google Vertex’s search technology to comb through millions of documents. IT teams have to proactively ensure that the database is pulling the right results.
“How do you manage the data pipeline? How do you ensure that the data is getting indexed correctly? How do you make sure that you can maintain and monitor that system once it's live?” he said.
In a world where multi-cloud is often the maxim, Promevo has reaped the fruits of a Google-only strategy.
The channel partner has been aligned with Google Cloud since the launch of the Google Cloud Platform Partner Program in 2012. The company, for years, has provided its own software to manage Google Workspace, and gPanel recently went live on the hyperscaler’s marketplace.
Although Google was late to the cloud compared to AWS and Microsoft Azure, Pettit said the company’s technological chops — including its software suite and CPU platform — have set it apart. Originally seen as a fit for technologically savvy businesses, Google Cloud has moved into the B2B mainstream.
“I know AWS was really strong out of the gate from a cloud standpoint. But I think AI has re-pivoted everything when it comes to cloud,” Pettit said. “We see more and more people, even if they have a strong AWS footprint or Microsoft footprint, peeling off some work towards Google Cloud, especially around AI.”
The decision of six-time Google Cloud partner of the year SADA to sell to Microsoft-focused Insight Enterprises made analysts, journalists and channel partners wonder if hyperscaler exclusivity could really be the way forward. The hyperscalers themselves have developed their own multi-cloud teams. “I think there was resistance probably two to three years ago, but then I think they’ve embraced it,” Rita Barry, director of public cloud alliances at Ensono told Channel Dive in January.
Pettit said multi-cloud footprints are inevitable at the enterprise level, as well as across multiple channel partners, but that hasn’t deterred Promevo from hyperscaler exclusivity.
“[Cloud is] rarely single sourced, and they're just doing different projects with different business units or groups within a company. It doesn't really have any bearing on the outcome,” Pettit said. “What are they looking to achieve and what's the best tech stack to get them there?”
Navigating Google Cloud’s new partner program
Google Cloud’s latest program refresh could spur consolidation among its partners.
Google Cloud updated its partner program in December. Partners are in the middle of a six-month window started in December to adopt the new program, which adds rewards for customer support and, ultimately, adoption of AI products.
Google Cloud wants “outcomes,” which means businesses need to actually consume the products they purchase. If a partner sells 5,000 licenses but only 3,000 of the customer's employees use it, Google Cloud risks losing revenue at contract renewal.
And as it is elsewhere across the IT channel, resale-only models are under pressure. Pettit said Google Cloud’s financial incentives have remained intact overall, but traditional discounts have taken a hit due to the rewards being spread out to include adoption.
“With the amount of investment it takes to push to adoption within a client, the discount's not enough to live off of,” he said.
Promevo diversified its revenue streams to become part reseller, part ISV and part service provider. The ISV business, based on gPanel, accounts for about half the company’s revenue, while resale and services account for the other two quarters.
“I think having your own IP is really important,” Pettit said. “I think we also see with the AI adoption, you need to be able to start with some templates and use cases for clients.”
Pettit anticipates consolidation among the smaller Google Partners
“I think you'll be down to mid-size or larger, or at least there'll be some minimum threshold,” he said.
