C2C Announcement for Google Cloud Customers
April 1, 2021Are you a Google Cloud customer? Whether it's GCP or Google Workspace it's always good to connect with other customers from around the world and discuss how they are leveraging Google’s platform. Keeping up to date with the latest product releases from Google can also be a challenge. Today, we want to tell you about a new community that can help with both of these areas and more. It is called Customer to Community (C2C) and it is the world's first independent Google Cloud community. This week we take a look at the platform and how it can benefit you as a Google customer.
What is C2C?
C2C is the very first independent Google Cloud community that is supported by Google. This means that, if you join it, you are going to be able to access useful and up to date information around the Google Cloud. C2C’s purpose is to unite Google Cloud customers from across the world. They have four key pillars: connect, learn, shape, and access.
They want people to make connections to encourage working collaboratively and solving issues for the whole community. C2C can give you exclusive access to Google Cloud material. This comes in the format of a preview of the Google Cloud product road maps and the strategic focus areas that Google will be looking at in the future.
You will gain access to industry experts and be able to meet Googlers, Partners and other Customers at virtual and, eventually, in-person C2C events. C2C will also focus on innovating for the future and invites you to be a part of that process through sharing experiences with the Google community.
C2C Groups and Events
Not only is C2C offering the opportunity for global collaboration and communication, but it is also setting up regional groups, for example we are part of the UK and Ireland Group that users can join. We helped host one of the first online events with C2C, on the 25th of March 2021 on the topic of ‘How Google Cloud helped us react to COVID-19’. This event had some incredible speakers and the recordings from that event will be online to access via C2C - very much worth your time if you want to learn more about how the UKs Cabinet Office and other government agencies reacted to remote working with Google Workspace.
C2C is an active group that is offering plenty of upcoming events that can help you and your business. The following dates have unmissable events:
- On Thursday the 22nd of April, there will be an event around employee engagement in a hybrid landscape.
- On Thursday the 20th of May, there will be an event on innovation and change management focusing on Google Workspace
- On the 17th of June, there will be an event known as ‘SLaM’ which stands for starters, leavers, and movers. This will discuss the onboarding and off-boarding of employees using Google Cloud and the best practices around that.
The C2C Platform
Connect with C2C
The homepage is the ‘Connect Section’. This section is designed to, quite literally, connect you with the community. This has spaces for discussion on topics like Google WorkSpace, Cloud Infrastructure, Data and Analytics, as well as offering more social spaces like the C2C Lounge.
While this site and concept are still very new, the groups and topics will grow overtime and deliver invaluable content, ideas, and information for you and your business. You can click into groups to become a member or even ‘Create Topic’ to encourage discussion around an area you want to explore with others. Interestingly, when creating topics, you’re able to either begin a conversation around it or ask a question to encourage collaboration.
When in these groups, you can scroll down and find out what the members are discussing at that time. This is helpful if you are needing an answer to a question or want to generate a conversation to determine opinions around a topic or field. Links can be added to comments to help others learn more about the subject you are discussing.
Learn with C2C
The learning area with C2C helps you keep up to date with what is going on in Google Cloud News, previous events that have run in conjunction with C2C, and general topics where you can scale your knowledge base around Google Cloud.
Google Cloud contains a massive amount of applications and devices to aid with business management. Having a resource like C2C’s learning area makes accessing information to everything Google Cloud related much easier.
This space contains recordings and articles around different topics. Another key feature of C2C is the video content from the monthly events. They take relevant, bite-sized videos from events to make consuming the content much easier for those who haven’t had the opportunity to attend the event.
This site is being driven by a team of people, supported by Google, to ensure that relevant, free, and informative content is available for users of C2C to ensure the community can grow and develop.
Google has supported C2C in a variety of ways by for example giving access to speakers like Javier Saltero, who is the head of Google Workspace globally. At the end of last year he spoke at a virtual event to answer customer queries on Google Workspace. This access that the C2C team has to Google makes it a really valuable resource to understanding what Google is thinking and their strategies for the future.
Shape with C2C
The shape area within C2C is another space where people can share articles, learn about best practices, watch helpful videos, and access a multitude of resources to help grow their businesses and knowledge base.
You can also add your own ideas of useful content for C2C and people can upvote them so the C2C team can see what content the users need and want.
Events with C2C
While we have already covered events, there is a useful page on the C2C website where you can pursue the upcoming events and even sign up for them. You will notice there are a wide variety of events, in all corners of the globe.
C2C Navigator events are run by the C2C team and they tend to have speakers from Google or from respected, external parties. These events tend to be more presentation based.
C2C Connect events are aimed at bringing the community together and tend to be in a more informal format.
Every Thursday, C2C run a ‘Top Workspace Headlines Coffee Chat’ at 9.30 am CST/ 2:30pm GMT for users to discuss Workspace headlines from the last week and share their current projects. A simple Google Meet, you can chat with the community and learn from their ideas and findings.
Why Get Involved with C2C
C2C offers a fantastic opportunity for Google customers and Partners to get involved with and grow the Google community. It is a space to share knowledge, learn from others and gain insight into where Google is going next. While every event is currently virtual, there will be in-person events in the future to look forward to and to finally meet the people you have connected with online. So why not come join us in the Cloud to Cloud community, we would love to hear your thoughts on Google’s solutions and how your organisation is leveraging the platform. Check out www.c2cglobal.com
As a longstanding member of the Google Cloud Partner Program, Damson Cloud specialises in bringing people and ideas together through new ways of working. We champion change management and digital transformation using some of the internet’s most trusted solutions, including Google Workspace, Happeo and Jamboard. To find out more about our services, check out our library of tutorial videos or our blog.
