Google flexes one stop shop to seal cloud contracts

Google has landed a multi-year cloud-computing contract with Spanish media company Univision after offering a bundle of services across its line of products, notably YouTube, advertising and search services.

The deal, which could top $1 billion over its eight-year term, highlights Google’s advantage of offering a “one-stop shop” and, as The Wall Street Journal points out, how tech giants grow by leaning on established products to build budding businesses. 

The details

• Bundling products is especially useful for media companies when they are looking for other services like machine learning to make video recommendations to audiences.

• Such a strategy is increasingly becoming part of pitches as Google and other cloud service providers search for customers, observers say. Microsoft has bundled products in large cloud deals, often including Office 365; Amazon, too, has linked cloud services to other services, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• But some, including a Congress panel investigation, have raised concerns that this approach gives giant tech companies an unfair advantage in capturing business, and stifles competition.

Key quote

“If I want to buy a car, I don’t want to go buy four wheels and a steering wheel and an engine and doors and try and figure out how to put that together.” Univision Chief Executive Wade Davis on the Google advantage