How is Google Building a Secure and Compliant Government Cloud?

Google’s Public Sector Partner Leader Joins Ultimate Guide to Partnering

Are you eager to explore the fascinating world of innovative cloud capabilities and their impact on the public sector markets? Are you looking to learn how one of the big three hyperscalers took a unique approach to solve the strict compliance requirements of government security? Are you ready to tap into the opportunity to partner with Google Cloud’s innovative public-sector business?

Whether you’re a seasoned partner executive or a passionate entrepreneur ready to tap into new opportunities, you have come to the right place as I welcome?Troy Bertram, the Executive Managing Director of Google Cloud’s Public Sector business.

In this episode, we discuss Google’s partner-led and partner-first approach to the Public Sector, the company’s extraordinary commitment to building this business, how it uniquely reached the highest levels of compliance and security to support the most stringent government customers, and why partners need to consider Google as they build their business strategy. I hope you enjoy and learn from this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming Troy Bertram.

In Google’s words

Troy Bertram, Executive Managing Director at Google Public Sector (GPS),?joined Google Cloud in 2022 to build and lead our Public Sector Partner Ecosystem team, where his teams manage the sell to, through, and with relationships with our System Integrators (SI), Reseller, Distribution channels and Independent Software Vendors (ISV) / SaaS vendors building solution on Google. He brings more than 25 years of experience from government and transformative technology companies.

Bertram joined Google from Telos Corporation, a cyber security company, where he served as Sr. Vice President of Sales and Business Development. He previously held a CRO title at Saildrone; an autonomous ocean vehicle and sensor platform company; and a general manager position at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where over eight years he built global business development and partner channel sell to, with and through teams that supported commercial enterprise, government, education and non-profit customers around the world. Before joining AWS in 2013, Bertram spent over a decade at Dell Technologies building and leading multiple sales, services, operations, merger and acquisition, and business development teams. Bertram is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served as a communications officer in the 82nd Airborne Division. He earned an MBA from Saint Edwards University and a BS in Business and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota.

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What You’ll Learn

• Google’s Public Sector Partner Ecosystem Mission.?2:22
• Google public sector is a mission-oriented partner organization focused on partner outcomes, aligning with partners with human capital and investing in partner development.
• State and local government is part of the mandate of the organization.
• Google is the third dominant hyper-scalar in the space, and is excited to be leading the organization at this time.
• The organization is not new from a human capital perspective. They have a great footprint in their commercial regulated industries, including insurance, energy, gaming, financial services.
• How did you get started in the cloud space?7:59
• Troy and Vince talk about the challenges of competing in the public sector cloud market and the need for service parity.
• Nine months to 12 months is a challenge to bring technology to bear to support government missions. There is always a lag and continues to be a lake when you have separate clouds built for a unique, discrete customer environment.
• Five key areas of focus, mission outcomes, empowering everyone to innovate.
• Focusing on the user and innovation.13:05
• The state of Wisconsin is focused on improving the mission of the educator, the tax examiner and the adjudicator for benefits in a timely manner.
• Innovation comes from everywhere in the organization.
• Innovation comes from everywhere. Good ideas are not isolated to a boardroom or senior leaders. They come from every piece of the business.
• The best partnerships are partner first.
• Partner segmentation in government.17:19
• Partner segmentation in government, regional and national systems integrators, independent software vendors, social and economic disadvantaged partners, and federal and global partners.
• Partner ecosystem from a large Google partner ecosystem.
• Google Cloud is the cornerstone of the answer to how to make money as a partner with Google Cloud, and the challenge is
• Commit to a spend dollar problem.21:06
• The commit problem, committing to a spend dollar is not fiscally responsible to a three year, five year, annual fiscal cycle in government.
• The public sector subscription agreement.
• The best partners are those with engineering and tech skills, understanding the technology and how to apply it to partner and customer requirements.
• How to get momentum with partners.
• Google’s strategy in generative Ai.25:23
• Insight Minnesota and Deloitte are partners in Google technology to produce outcomes, giving back to the partner community.
• Google is partner first, telling partner stories with customers and partner outcomes.
• Google’s strategy in generative AI. The long game is making sure the answers and technology derived can really meet mission outcomes.
• How Google is helping with common data exploration problems.
• What’s coming in the future of the company?30:23
• Applying AI and what is coming in the future. They are just getting started on the problem set.
• How to connect with a partner today.
• The spark that got him on the path to this amazing success in his career, and why he is passionate about this customer set.
• Why he’s passionate about helping veterans.
• Who would you invite to your dinner party?34:57

Advice for partners on building their business this year.39:36

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Announcing The Ultimate Partner LIVE

Last month, we launched our first event focused on transforming your Cloud Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. If you missed it, you don't have to worry; you can catch up by watching it?HERE.

In an era defined by significant shifts, such as the global pandemic and economic challenges, the role of hyperscalers has never been more critical. These giants have invested billions in ecosystems, technology, and customer acquisition, resulting in over $200 billion in customer commitments to durable cloud budgets. We are now at the edge of a marketplace moment where streamlining economic models tied to co-selling and ecosystem-led growth will shape the decade ahead.

As vendors and organizations demand more from us, resources become scarcer, leaving us questioning our path forward. How do we navigate these seismic shifts? How do we thrive in this decade of the ecosystem?

You're likely to grapple with these questions if you're a partner. The conventional sources of guidance are no longer sufficient to transform into a Cloud GTM and embrace Ecosystem Led Growth. That's where Ultimate Partner comes in – we are your trusted compass amidst the noise.

Our recent LIVE Digital Event was a smashing success. In the coming days, we will reveal more about our plans to help you achieve your most excellent results and become The Ultimate Partner?. Together, we'll unlock the full potential of your partnerships and thrive in the age of ecosystem-led growth.

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