Cloud Revenue Drifts Upward
March 13, 2013
Google has added some support items to its cloud menu, we learn from “Google Adds Fee-Based Support Services for Cloud Platform Customers” at ComputerWorld. These options are available for use with Google‘s Cloud Platform products like App Engine, Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, and Big Query. This is an important step for the company, which has been rightly criticized in the past for subpar technical support.
Turning to an unoriginal but easily understood metals theme, Google has named the service tiers Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The free Bronze level just lets you in on documentation, forums, and billing assistance. For $150 per month, Silver hooks users up with the Cloud Platform support team via email, where one can ask about functionality, best practices, and service errors.
Writer Juan Carlos Perez discusses the highest precious-metal options, which are a bit more complex:
“The Gold tier, which starts at $400 per month, adds around-the-clock phone support and consultation on application development, best practices or architecture issues. In the Gold tier, the $400 fee is the minimum charge for all customers, and Google then adds a percentage of the customer’s total monthly usage fees for all Cloud Platform products if those fees exceed $4,000 per month, according to the company. For example, a customer that spends between $4,001 and $10,000 per month in usage fees would pay 9 percent of that monthly total to receive Gold-tier service. Those who spend more than $200,000 in monthly usage fees would pay 3 percent. The top Platinum tier gives customers direct access to a technical account management team. To obtain pricing for the Platinum tier customers need to contact Google.”
Of course they do. Gee, now they’ve made me curious.
Differing levels of response-time promises accompany each paid tier; on urgent issues, Silver customers need wait no longer than four business hours, while Gold and Platinum players should get a response within the hour. For less crucial concerns, Silvers and Golds should see a response within a business day, and Platinums should hear back in under four business hours. The number of an organization’s users who may access the Support Portal also varies with tier, with two for Silver, five for Gold, and an unlimited number for Platinum users.
Cynthia Murrell, March 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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