In Search of Profits, Google Cloud Shifts Focus to Midsize Customers

During Thomas Kurian’s nearly five years at the helm of Google’s cloud-server business, the unit has raised its profile by inking long-term agreements with companies such as Deutsche Bank, Dun & Bradstreet Holdings and Mayo Clinic. But Google Cloud has struggled to get those companies to quickly increase their spending on cloud services, according to two current sales managers and four people who do business with Google Cloud.

So Kurian and his team are now taking a different approach. Google Cloud this year is increasing its focus on selling cloud services to the vast array of medium-sized companies—known as the midmarket—that have yet to make significant cloud commitments, according to a Google Cloud sales manager and three other people who do business with the company. In a sign of growing pressure on the unit, Google Cloud managers also are requiring some salespeople to forecast spending by new customers with more rigor so the company can have confidence that big cloud contracts will actually produce big revenue.