Google Cloud chief Kurian advocates aggressive enterprise sales strategy in opening salvo

Google Cloud chief executive Thomas Kurian is looking to give his new employer a stronger enterprise presence – by using old-school sales tactics. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, the former Oracle veteran noted his plan to hire more salespeople, focus more aggressively on large traditional companies, as well as look at fresh deals with systems integrators. “In a nutshell, we at Google are focused on enabling organisations to get five different capabilities from our platform that help them get brand new ways to exploit the digital revolution,” he told delegates. “We’re seeing very strong momentum with customers around the world in six industries; we’re investing aggressively to grow our direct sales and distribution capacity, as well as striking a number of partnerships with partners who will not only provide value add to our solutions, but also distribute our offerings and capabilities.”