Migrations to the public cloud are becoming increasingly popular in the development of technologically conscious companies. Implementing a cloud solution within an organization increases the efficiency of IT activity, allows to transfer the operating field to development and guarantees flexibility and scalability. One of the most frequent motivations for cloud migrations is also the will to optimize the infrastructure maintenance costs.
Despite this, it is not easy to decide on migrating to the public cloud. It equals to an IT (r)evolution and can impact the entire company. Apart from the advantages, directors and managers see the potential threats and difficulties of the migration or the subsequent use of the cloud solution. The implementation and adaptation of the new solutions is supported by Partners – in case of the Google Cloud Platform it’s the Google Cloud Premier Partner.
See also:
What is the Google Cloud Platform and how does it support business?
20 reasons to choose Google Cloud Platform
Who is the Google Cloud Premier Partner?
Google also runs a partnership programme supporting sales, proper operation and development of the full potential of the offered services, for e.g. Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) or the mentioned GCP. Partnership companies are located all over the world and provide assistance between Google and the end users of the cloud services.
The Google programme anticipates three levels of cooperation with the partnership companies:
- Member – at this level the members of the company participating in the programme learn about the possibilities of the Google Cloud services and take part in the trainings;
- Partner – a company that has acquired the necessary knowledge confirmed by relevant certificates becomes an official Google Partner; Partners have access to more detailed trainings and materials, obtain technical and marketing support with regard to the sale of Google services;
- Premier – the highest level of the partnership programme; the status of the Google Premier Partner is restricted to companies that have demonstrated technical know-how and extensive knowledge of the Google services – in the case of Google Cloud services the title is Google Cloud Premier Partner; company employees obtain access to exclusive trainings and materials in order to acquire detailed and expert knowledge; thanks to the certified know-how and experience, the Google Cloud Premier Partner is, in a sense, an „extension” of the Google team itself.
After three years of intense development and constant education, the company FOTC, in 2017 has finally obtained the status of the Google Cloud Premier Partner. We have assisted over 1200 clients in using the potential of the Google Cloud solutions – Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), GCP and related products, such as Chrome Enterprise and Google Maps Platform. There are also cloud implementation experts on board, who have obtained a total of nearly 70 Google certificates (including Professional Cloud Architect).
Areas of cloud migration supported by Google Cloud Premier Partner
No knowledge of the solution, the complex cloud architecture, difficulties with integration of the database system, exceeding the implementation budget – the concerns connected with the migration are similar with many organizations. The Google Partnership Programme has been introduced mainly to overcome these difficulties and allow organizations to benefit from the public cloud. This is how Google Cloud Premier Partner, such as FOTC, supports organizations in changing their infrastructure solution.
Assessment of the profitability
One of the most frequent advantages of cloud migration is the optimization of costs. Before any procedures connected with the cloud migration commence, the Partner helps to assess the cost recovery of the cloud investment. Partners analyze the usage of the current solution, the current costs of the infrastructure maintenance, present and future business requirements and the company’s readiness to start the migration. Considering these factors, the Partner evaluates whether turning to the public cloud is the right path.
The choice of the infrastructure solution – GCP, multi-cloud or hybrid cloud
A partnership company is both Google’s and the client organization’s partner – if necessary, the partner will come forward with not only a promoted solution, but also the most profitable one for the client.
Combining advantages of various infrastructure environments is a popular solution. Apart form the infrastructure constructed on the Google Cloud Platform, there is also the possibility of creating a solution within the hybrid model (combination of the public cloud and individual on-premise infrastructure) or multi-cloud (using the potential of many public clouds simultaneously). If necessary, the Partner helps to combine these environments in order to create an infrastructure that best fulfills the client’s business and technological requirements.
The choice of migration strategy– lift-and-shift, replatform, refactor
Sposób prowadzenia migracji jest dyktowany celami, jakie mają zostać zrealizowane poprzez przejście do chmury publicznej. Google Cloud Premier Partner pomaga wybrać i dopasować do potrzeb jedną z trzech popularnych strategii migracji:
The methods of performing the migration depend on the goals that are to be achieved by means of the public cloud migration. Google Cloud Premier Partner provides assistance in the selection and adjustment of one of the three popular migration strategies:
- lift-and-shift (also referred to as rehosting) – a cloud migration strategy that consts in making no changes in the existing system; only the infrastructure service provider is changed;
- replatform – a strategy that includes system changes, often connected with optimization of the existing architecture and providing improvements;
- refactor – a migration strategy that includes introducing significant changes or performing a complete reconstruction of the system architecture (for example rewriting applications for containerization reasons).
We can support your need to modify the back-end layer of your system. If, in the process of the cloud migration, you wish to optimize the application or pay off a technical debt, contact us.
Support in selecting Google Cloud Platform services
Google Cloud Platform is not only server space, but also almost 200 cloud services, tools and components that can be used to cread a personalized infrastructure according to individual needs. Having the necessary business knowledge, the Partner helps to select the GCP services and to distribute the demand in order to guerantee a scalable, efficient and relatively cheap infrastructure solution.
Budget and migration schedule
One of the most frequent doubts (nearly at any performance) is the spectre of exceeding the budget and the ever changing deadline of finishing the works. In order to avoid this scenario, Google Cloud Premier Partner helps to set up a schedule and budget planning. Having the knowledge on the organizations’ needs, a selected migration strategy and an infrastructure draft, the experts form the partnership company divide the process into steps, evaluate the dificulty and the time necessary to perform each step – from the first console startup till the full cloud migration is complete.
Technical support during migration
The Partner is always present during the technical migration performance and the extent of its engagement in the process depends on the client. You can settle on the distribution of works already at the beginning of planning the implementation and delegate a significant, minor or proportional part of activities to the partnership company. If the client has its own IT division and wants to perform the migration individually, the role of the Google Partner can be limited to technical support only in case of difficulties. It’s important to remember that certified experts know the Google Cloud Platform like a book – which they will not be additionally payed for during the migration support..
Higher voucher to use in the GCP console – 500 $
Google Cloud Premier Google guarantees its clients larger benefits than Google itself. In the case of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) it is 30 days of free use (instead of the standard 14 days), and in case of Google Cloud Platform – a 500 $ voucher instead of 300 $ to use within the console for any services.
If you’re planning to use the Google Cloud Platform or if you are using the solution and want to receive the 500 $ voucher to use within the console, contact us.
Current support of the GCP infrastructure operation
The Google Cloud Premier Partner guarantees constant support throughout the time of using the Google Cloud Platform. If the client’s IT team encounters a difficulty in the console operation or in the settlements for the provided services, it can forward the issue to the Partner. The Partner is the agent between the client organization and Google – it provides not only support in the field of tool operation, but also participates in the negotiations always to the benefit of the client.
FOTC, being the Google Cloud Premier Partner, manages the Google Cloud market in eastern and central Europe (i.a. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania) and, thus, guarantees support in the local language (or in English) and within the local time zone.
Possible settlement in PLN
Cooperation with the Partner guarantees yet another benefit, very much appreciated by many companies and organizations – the possibility to settle accounts for the Google Cloud services in the local currency. In case of using the GCP directly at Google, the payments are made in USD. The Google Cloud Premier Partner issues the Polish client invoices for the same amount (without adding any commisions or charges – using the Partner’s support is free of charge), but in PLN.
Are you planning a cloud migration? Obtain the 500 $ voucher and professional support
If you think that switching your infrastructure solution to the public cloud is the proper strategy for your organization, contact us. Certyfied FOTC experts will help you evaluate the potential of the investment, select the proper solution, plan the strategy preceeded by detailed analysis and support you in the migration process and the subsequent Google Cloud Platform operation. You will, moreover, obtain a 500 $ voucher for your first steps on the GCP console.
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