Google perceived as needing some big deals to compete against Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle
By Channelnomics Staff
Under the new leadership of Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud could be gearing up for a big buying spree to get itself in a better position to compete against the likes of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
The Lowdown: Google is a tertiary player in the business cloud computing market. Kurian, who took over for retiring Diane Greene, has a growth-through-acquisition track record. The combination of the two factors is leading many observers to speculate that Kurian, a former Oracle executive, will drive growth through acquisition.
The Details: Market observers see Google needing to acquire major cloud services platforms and applications to stay in the cloud game. Adding more business-class cloud applications, such as Slack and Atlassian (maker of Trello) would put it in a much better competitive position. Others speculate Google snapping up security vendor Splunk or ServiceNow would bolster its enterprise fortunes.
The Impact: If Google buys one or more companies such as Atlassian or ServiceNow, it’ll transform its channel and the channel landscape. Google already works extensively with channel partners in taking its G Suite and cloud computing capabilities to market. Adding enterprise applications would radically transform its channel composition and relationships.
Background: Under Greene, Google made several attempts to grow its cloud business through acquisition. Google approached Red Hat about a development partnership, but was rebuffed. Red Hat was later acquired by IBM for $36 billion. Also, Google was reportedly interested in acquiring development platform provider GitHub before being beaten out by Microsoft.
The Buzz: “Thomas Kurian has probably acquired more companies, for the longest period of time, than almost any executives in the software industry,” Anshu Sharma, the co-founder and chairman of Clearedin, told Business Insider.
