Google Workspace incentives are changing: what should partners focus on now?

Google's Workspace incentive structure has been updated. The changes are now in effect and they will definitely reward a different approach to selling. Here's my take on where partners should focus their attention today to make the most of their efforts with Google Workspace.

Google announced changes to its Workspace partner incentive programme at the end of 2025, giving partners around six months to prepare. That runway is over. The new structure is now live and for partners who haven't had the opportunity to look at the detail, now is a good time to do it.

Why?

Because the partners who do best with these new incentives will be those who understand the three priorities that Google seems to have in mind:

• Longer-term end user relationships
• Sustained product adoption and engagement
• A renewed focus on smaller accounts

Multi-year deals should move up your agenda

The clearest signal in the updated incentive structure is that Google wants partners building longer-term customer relationships. Multi-year commitments are now the most directly rewarded sales motion available, and the message isn't subtle.

The commercial case for multi-year deals has always been straightforward. Customers who commit for longer get more predictable pricing. Partners who lock in longer-term contracts get more stable revenue, fewer renewal conversations, and more room to add value on top of the licence. What's new is that the incentive structure now backs that up explicitly, so there's even more reason for you to prioritise it.

If multi-year deals aren't already part of your standard Workspace conversation, there's never been a better time to go hunting for them. Your existing base is the most natural starting point. Customers who are already using the product and happy with it are the easiest multi-year conversation you'll have and it's usually a shorter discussion than partners expect.

Are your customers actually using the product?

The second area worth understanding is Google's increased emphasis on active usage. One of the available rebates is now tied directly to adoption. To qualify, at least 50% of a customer's workforce needs to be using at least two Google Workspace applications as active monthly users.

That's a meaningful threshold. And it changes the nature of the partner's role after the sale. Selling licences and moving on isn't enough. If customers aren't genuinely using the product, the rebate won't apply. It makes sense: customers who aren't using what they're paying for are churn risks, which would mean lost opportunities and harder work for the partner.

The flip side is worth noting too. Partners who already work on adoption by helping customers get real value out of Workspace rather than just access to it will be in a stronger position under this structure than they were before.

So if post-sale adoption isn't currently one of your priorities, a rethink might be a very good idea.

Smaller customers represent a real opportunity

Google has also introduced a specific rebate for smaller accounts  (customers with fewer than 100 Workspace licences) who commit to a contract of more than 12 months. This Small Business Accelerator rebate creates a targeted incentive in a segment that often gets less attention, and the logic holds up: smaller customers who are well-served tend to grow, and partners who build those relationships early are well-positioned when they do.

Of course, SMB doesn't need to become your only focus. Larger opportunities remain commercially significant, and for bigger deals Google typically works through deal registration to put together a custom offer. Think of the under-100-seat rebate as a genuine addition to the opportunity set, not a reason to narrow your ambitions.

A change to transfer discounts worth knowing

One further update: outside the EMEA region, the discount available when an existing Workspace customer transfers from one partner to another has been reduced from 5% to 2%. If transfer cases feature in your pipeline, that's worth factoring into your commercial planning. In EMEA, existing arrangements continue to apply.

How SoftwareOne can help

As a loyal Google Workspace distributor, SoftwareOne is working through these same incentive changes ourselves. That gives us a practical view of where the opportunities sit and how they play out across different partner and customer profiles.

So, while the documentation around these changes is available to any registered partner, making sense of them in the context of your own book of business is where we can add real value for you. We have skin in the game and we're happy to share lessons learned.

If you'd like to talk through how the updated structure affects your pipeline and where to focus for the rest of the year, speak to your SoftwareOne contact today.