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Google Cloud, scoped
without the lock-in.

Google Cloud Platform commitments, Committed Use Discounts, BigQuery flat-rate and edition pricing, Vertex AI and Gemini, Google Workspace, and the Apigee, Looker and Mandiant additions. Google Cloud rewards the buyer who maps consumption to the right discount instrument. Our practice exists to map it correctly.

$190M+
GCP value advised
60+
Google Cloud engagements
31%
Average GCP saving
8 yrs
Google Cloud practice depth
Practice overview

The Google Cloud commercial reality.

Google Cloud's commercial model rewards buyers who understand the discount stack: Committed Use Discounts (resource-based and spend-based), Sustained Use Discounts, BigQuery editions and slot reservations, custom rate cards inside a Master Service Agreement, and the Google Workspace seat licensing that often sits alongside. The buyer who treats each as a separate negotiation overpays. The buyer who designs them together unlocks materially better economics.

Our Google Cloud practice exists to design that stack — CUD shape, BigQuery edition mix, Vertex AI and Gemini commit, Workspace seat economics — and to keep the multi-year commitment from quietly removing the buyer's ability to move workloads later.

Where the practice applies

  • GCP committed-spend agreements. Multi-year custom rate card MSAs, ramp design, discount stack and commit drawdown protection.
  • CUD portfolio design. Resource-based vs. spend-based CUDs, Compute Engine vs. Cloud Run vs. GKE allocation, and CUD term overlap design.
  • BigQuery economics. Editions (Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus), slot reservations, autoscaling, and the on-demand vs. capacity decision.
  • Google Workspace. Per-user seat economics, Business vs. Enterprise tier, AI add-ons (Duet AI/Gemini), and renewal posture against Microsoft 365 alternatives.
  • Vertex AI and Gemini. Foundation-model pricing, provisioned throughput, per-token economics and bounded ramp commitments.
  • Apigee, Looker and Mandiant. Acquired-portfolio commercial alignment with the broader GCP relationship.

What we don't do

We are not a Google Cloud partner. We do not staff your cloud team. We do not take referral fees from Google or any ISV in the Google Cloud Marketplace. We sit on the buyer side of the table and nothing else.

Typical engagement

GCP MSA renewal

8 to 12 weeks. Consumption baseline, CUD portfolio design, BigQuery edition mix and the MSA counter-proposal.

Typical engagement

BigQuery edition review

4 to 8 weeks. Slot reservation modelling, autoscaling design and the on-demand vs. capacity economic break-even.

Typical engagement

Workspace seat renegotiation

4 to 6 weeks. Tier review, AI add-on scoping and the Microsoft 365 alternative used as deliberate leverage.

Engagement model

Fixed-fee or success-based

Most Google Cloud engagements are fixed-fee. Larger MSA renewals are sometimes structured success-based against a documented baseline. See engagement models →

How we work

The Google Cloud negotiation, in six phases.

01

Consumption baseline

We reconcile your GCP bill across services, projects and regions; we map consumption against existing CUDs and BigQuery reservations; and we identify which workloads drive the next commit shape.

02

Workload and demand modelling

We model demand across compute, BigQuery, Vertex AI, networking and Workspace seats. We separate organic growth from project-driven peaks and run sensitivity on the CUD and slot portfolio.

03

Strategy and leverage design

We sequence the MSA renewal, any BigQuery edition transition and the Vertex AI conversation. We use Google fiscal-year discipline and the AWS/Azure alternative deliberately.

04

Counter-proposal and paper

We draft the counter-proposal, redline the MSA and order forms and pre-empt the standard Google playbook — over-sized commit, restrictive CUD breakage, and Gemini provisioned-throughput lock-in.

05

Negotiation execution

We lead or co-lead alongside your procurement, FinOps and engineering team. We engage Google strategic accounts and field teams directly and hold the line on the clauses that matter.

06

Post-signature handover

We hand over a clean Google Cloud file: signed MSA, CUD portfolio, BigQuery slot reservations, Workspace seat baseline, Vertex commercial terms and the renewal calendar for the next cycle.

What it covers

The Google Cloud terms we routinely move.

Commercial 01
Custom rate card and MSA
Multi-year custom rate card design, committed spend, ramp shape, discount stack, and protection against penalty pricing for under-consumption.
Commercial 02
CUD portfolio design
Resource-based vs. spend-based CUD mix, Compute Engine vs. Cloud Run vs. GKE allocation, term overlap design and breakage rights.
Commercial 03
BigQuery editions and slots
Standard vs. Enterprise vs. Enterprise Plus mix, slot reservations, autoscaling design and the on-demand vs. capacity economic break-even.
Legal 01
Data, AI and Vertex boundaries
Customer-data ownership in Vertex AI and Gemini, model-training restrictions, regional residency commitments and the EU data protection detail.
Legal 02
Audit, IAM and project structure
Organisation structure, IAM scope, audit posture, regulated industry protections and contractual data protection requirements.
Operational 01
Egress and inter-region transfer
Egress rate concessions, regional pricing review, inter-region data-transfer commit treatment and protection against unbounded egress growth.

"They rebuilt our BigQuery slot reservation and CUD portfolio together. Same workload, 38% lower cost, and the MSA renewal still landed below the original Google proposal."

Head of Cloud FinOps
European Retail Group
Outcomes

Recent Google Cloud engagements.

All case studies

Facing a Google Cloud renewal?

Tell us the MSA renewal date, the committed spend and any BigQuery or Vertex AI conversation in flight. We will respond within one business day with the Google Cloud practice lead.