Posted by Rahul Sood, Managing Director, Google Apps

Editor's note: This week we’re featuring news, stories and updates about our vibrant partner community as we host more than 700 partners for our second annual Global Partner Summit. Keep an eye on this blog, our Google+ page and visit our program site for more information on the Google Apps Reseller Program.

As many companies have realized for some time now, moving to the cloud is no longer a questionable proposition — it’s inevitable. Google offers core productivity, collaboration and communication tools within the Google Apps suite, but many companies have realized that to truly run their business in the cloud they need many more tools that address specialized needs like accounting, customer relationship management and project management.

Four years ago — nearly to the day — we launched an online storefront to help our customers find cloud applications that integrated with Google Apps. Since that launch Google Apps customers have added over 200M installs of the more than 750 offerings in the Google Apps Marketplace, which run the gamut of business apps. From UberConference, which integrates conference calling with Hangouts, to DocuSign, which integrates digital signatures with Google Drive, customers can access great apps that help them run their businesses even better. Meanwhile, more and more software developers are finding a highly engaged customer base through the marketplace. Smartsheet, for example, which offers a project management app integrated with Google Drive, discovered that customers from the Google Apps Marketplace share their projects 50% more and add 100% more attachments than the norm.

Today, to build on this momentum, we’re announcing a formal technology track in the Google Apps Partner Program for software vendors that build complementary business apps and tools. This new program will sit alongside our existing Reseller Program, which already includes 10,000+ partners. The new track is designed to recognize technology partners for their successes and offer them technical, marketing and sales support to help bring the products they build to more people.

We’ll start with a limited launch and begin adding existing technology partners to the program today and we’ll open the doors to all software vendors next quarter. Interested in getting involved in the meantime? If you have a business app you think would benefit Google Apps customers, check out our program guide and list your app in the Google Apps Marketplace.