If at first you marginally succeed, try, and try again. Taking this variation on the timeless precept word for word, Google has launched a new Google Apps Reseller Program that allows third parties to bundle customized Google Apps subscriptions with their services. The program may boost market share and make it easier for small and medium businesses to make the switch, but it could also be a quiet admission that Google's software-as-a-service (SaaS) approach isn't exactly bowling over customers yet.

Announced on the Official Google Blog, Google's new authorized reseller program allows technology consultants and other IT professionals to become service providers for Google Apps for Business, the search giant's collection of cloud-based e-mail, calendaring, and other collaboration applications. After applying to Google's reseller program, resellers will have access to Google-produced training and sales documentation and can begin selling tailored Google Apps deployments alongside their established services.

Resellers can handle all aspects of branding the Google Apps applications, creating end user accounts, switching DNS records, migration, and any other rollout steps and preparation for each customer. This should be a boon to small and medium businesses that are interested in experimenting with the cloud, but have neither the time nor technical resources to embark on the journey by themselves.

Google expresses multiple times at its program site that resellers more or less take over the Google Apps relationship with their customers. Resellers are billed according to the number of Google Apps accounts they create, which means they are in charge of billing and collecting from their customers. Google will still provide customer support, but it encourages resellers to take over the front line of support requests, allowing them to customize the contact information that customers see in their admin control panels. Google is effectively encouraging middlemen to become one-stop Google Apps armies, hoping to stay as much out of the way as possible while enabling its soldiers to fight the war.





Google's Reseller Program introductory video



A Google Apps reseller program was inevitable, though it still has its shortcomings. In particular, Google didn't have any sort of certification or fancy letterhead ready for the launch; those are still on the way. That said, it isn't hard to see this as a sign that Google Apps may be struggling. Google has seen some notable success since beginning to charge businesses for using Google Apps about two years ago, with a handful of colleges and 1.3 million addresses from the New South Wales, Australia Department of Education among Google's touted one-million-strong customer base.

But despite a report concluding that Gmail costs about one-third the price of hosted e-mail and Google Docs' new ability to go offline, web apps like Google's offerings don't seem to be making any major, concerted dents in Microsoft Office's stronghold around office productivity. Between Google Apps' lack of niche-but-critical features, continued concerns over privacy and data security, and the fact that most users still don't office in the cloud, Google Apps' resellers surely have quite a battle ahead of them.