Google Cloud Services, Positioned Honestly.
We're a certified Microsoft Solutions Partner first, and we're upfront about that. But a growing number of our clients run BigQuery, Cloud Storage or a GKE workload alongside their Microsoft estate — and our Google Cloud services exist to manage that properly, as part of one coherent multi-cloud environment rather than a bolt-on nobody's really watching.
What is Google Cloud Platform, in practical terms?
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is Google's cloud computing offering — compute, storage, networking and, notably, some of the strongest data analytics and machine learning tooling of any major cloud provider, built on the same infrastructure Google uses for its own search and advertising products. Google cloud computing services span everything from Compute Engine virtual machines and Cloud Storage through to BigQuery for large-scale data analysis and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for containerised workloads.
For most UK businesses, GCP isn't the platform their whole IT estate runs on — it's usually one deliberate piece of a wider environment, chosen for a specific reason: a data science team that wants BigQuery, a development team already building on GKE, or an application that was built on Google Cloud from the outset and there's no compelling reason to move it.
Google cloud consulting services — working out if GCP is actually the right call
Google cloud consulting, done properly, starts before any migration decision — with an honest look at what you're actually trying to solve. Is it a specific data analytics requirement BigQuery is genuinely well suited to? A development team's existing GKE expertise? Or is "we should look at Google Cloud" really a reaction to a bad experience with a different provider, where the underlying problem was management, not the platform?
Our consulting work maps your actual workloads and requirements against what GCP, Azure and AWS are each genuinely good at, and gives you a recommendation scoped to your business — not a generic best-practice deck.
Google Cloud Platform services we provide
GCP Migration & Workload Assessment
Assessed, planned migration onto Google Cloud for workloads that genuinely belong there, with data reconciled before cutover.
Compute Engine & GKE Management
Instance sizing, patching and container orchestration for Compute Engine and Google Kubernetes Engine workloads.
Cloud Storage & Lifecycle Management
Storage class tiering and retention policy configuration, so data sits at the right cost point for how it's actually used.
IAM & Access Governance
Identity and Access Management policy design and regular access reviews across your Google Cloud projects.
BigQuery Support & Cost Management
Query optimisation and cost monitoring for BigQuery workloads, where inefficient queries can turn analytics into an expensive habit.
Cost Optimisation
Monthly review of committed use discounts, idle resources and oversized instances across your GCP project estate.
Benefits of Google Cloud consulting services for modern UK businesses
Navigating Google Cloud without independent guidance frequently leads to unmonitored query charges, architectural silos, and configuration drift. Professional consulting delivers clear commercial outcomes:
Unbiased Platform Placement
Avoid costly architectural mistakes. We assess your applications objectively, recommending GCP only where BigQuery or Kubernetes provides an undeniable technical advantage over Azure or AWS.
BigQuery Cost Governance
BigQuery charges per byte scanned by default. Expert consultants partition tables, implement slot reservations, and build query guardrails to stop single unindexed analytical runs creating unexpected billing spikes.
Multi-Cloud Interoperability
Bridge the gap between Google Cloud and your Microsoft environment. We integrate GCP projects directly with Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), ensuring uniform single-sign-on and consistent access logs across both clouds.
GKE Cluster Best Practices
Deploy Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) according to established enterprise security baselines. We configure automated cluster upgrades, node auto-provisioning, and namespace network policies for predictable uptime.
Hardened IAM & Service Accounts
Prevent credential leakage. Consulting audits remove overly permissive project-level Owner roles, automate service account key rotation, and implement VPC Service Controls to prevent data exfiltration.
Committed Use Discount (CUD) Planning
Structure 1-year and 3-year Google Cloud Committed Use Discounts aligned with your genuine baseline compute needs, cutting standard on-demand virtual machine and memory costs by up to 50%.
Where Google Cloud genuinely leads, and where we wouldn't default to it
Part of doing this properly is being straight about what each platform is actually best at, rather than treating them as interchangeable.
- Large-scale data analytics via BigQuery
- Machine learning and AI tooling (Vertex AI)
- Container-native workloads built around Kubernetes (GKE)
- Global network performance for latency-sensitive applications
- A business already deep in Microsoft 365 with no specific GCP need
- Teams with no existing Kubernetes or BigQuery expertise to build on
- Simple infrastructure hosting with no data or ML requirement
- Businesses wanting the widest possible ISV and enterprise app ecosystem
Security for Google Cloud environments
Google Cloud operates the same shared responsibility principle as every major provider — Google secures the underlying infrastructure, you're responsible for how projects, IAM roles and network configuration are set up on top of it. The most common gaps we find are overly broad IAM roles granted for convenience, service account keys that were never rotated, and Cloud Storage buckets with public access left open longer than intended.
- IAM role and service account key audits
- Cloud Storage bucket access reviews
- VPC firewall rule and network configuration checks
- Security Command Center monitoring configuration
This sits alongside our wider managed cybersecurity service for businesses needing Cyber Essentials Plus or broader security coverage.
Why businesses choose the Google Cloud service ecosystem
While many UK organisations default to Microsoft Azure or AWS out of standard operational convenience, companies that deliberately invest in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) do so for clear architectural, analytical, and data-engineering advantages. Rather than attempting to match every generic legacy Windows application, Google engineered GCP around the exact software paradigms that power its own search, advertising, and video streaming operations: distributed datasets, serverless analytics, and ultra-high-density container orchestration.
Unrivalled analytical power with serverless BigQuery
The decisive factor driving enterprise adoption of GCP is almost universally BigQuery. Traditional cloud databases require extensive capacity forecasting, cluster provisioning, index management, and continuous database administration. BigQuery functions as a truly serverless, petabyte-scale data warehouse that separates compute execution from underlying storage. Marketing, logistics, and retail businesses can run complex SQL analytical queries across billions of customer transaction records in seconds, without provisioning a single server. This architectural separation allows teams to ingest real-time telemetry and extract commercial insights at a speed that traditional virtualised databases cannot achieve.
The native birthplace of containerised architecture (GKE)
Because Google originally developed Kubernetes internally to manage its own planetary compute infrastructure, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) remains the most technologically mature and automated managed container platform available. Engineering teams choosing GCP gain access to advanced four-way auto-scaling, integrated security telemetry, and streamlined operational deployment that drastically reduces the maintenance burden on in-house developers. For modern software businesses delivering containerised web services, GKE provides unmatched resilience and horizontal scalability.
Unified artificial intelligence and global private fiber networking
Through Vertex AI, Google Cloud integrates generative models, custom machine learning pipelines, and predictive analytics directly alongside your primary data repositories, removing the friction of exporting training data across external tools. Furthermore, all GCP zones communicate over Google's privately owned, software-defined global subsea fiber network, bypassing public internet congestion to deliver exceptional packet consistency and low latency. For businesses with data-intensive, forward-looking operational requirements, the GCP ecosystem represents an exceptional foundation when governed and maintained by an accountable engineering partner.
Google Cloud vs Azure vs AWS — a genuinely balanced view
| Factor | Google Cloud | Azure | AWS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data analytics & ML | Strongest native tooling | Strong via Synapse & Fabric | Strong, broader service sprawl |
| Microsoft ecosystem fit | None | Native | None |
| Container-native workloads | GKE, generally regarded as mature | AKS, strong | EKS, strong |
| Enterprise app & ISV ecosystem | Smaller | Extensive | Extensive |
| UK enterprise adoption | Lower than the other two | High, especially SMEs | High, especially tech-native firms |
If your reality is a mix of these — which for most growing UK businesses, it eventually is — see our approach to hybrid and multi-cloud management rather than treating each platform as a separate relationship.
We are the UK's leading Google Cloud consultancy services company.
Delivering objective architectural reviews, BigQuery cost optimisation, and seamless multi-cloud governance alongside your wider IT estate.
Book a Strategy ConsultationHow Google Cloud services are typically structured
An honest assessment of whether GCP fits your requirement, and how it would sit alongside your existing environment.
Assessed, planned migration of the specific workloads that make sense on Google Cloud.
Ongoing monitoring, security, cost management and support for a live GCP environment, standalone or alongside Azure/AWS.
Why businesses trust us with a Google Cloud workload, despite our Microsoft roots
- Certified Microsoft Solutions Partner, with genuine multi-cloud engineering capability
- One team managing GCP, Azure and AWS alike, under one standard
- UK-employed engineers, working UK hours
- Cyber Essentials Plus certified across the environments we manage
- Honest advice, including telling you when GCP isn't the right fit
- Fixed monthly pricing, agreed after we've seen your environment
Getting a Google Cloud workload properly managed
A conversation about the actual requirement
What's driving the interest in GCP specifically — data, containers, an existing team's skillset — before anything else gets decided.
An honest recommendation
GCP, Azure, AWS or a mix — whichever genuinely fits, explained in plain terms rather than steered toward what's easiest for us to sell.
A fixed-price scope
Clear cost for consulting, migration or ongoing management, agreed before any work starts.
Managed alongside everything else
GCP monitored and secured under the same standard as the rest of your cloud estate, not treated as a separate, forgotten project.
Two decades of infrastructure work, across the platforms businesses actually use
Our other cloud & infrastructure services
Managed Cloud Services
Proactive monitoring, security and cost optimisation across your entire cloud estate.
Explore Managed Cloud →Azure Cloud Services
Certified Microsoft Solutions Partner support for Azure migration, storage and management.
Explore Azure Services →AWS Cloud Services
EC2, S3, VPC and IAM management for businesses running AWS workloads.
Explore AWS Services →Hybrid Cloud Services
On-premise infrastructure and public cloud, managed under one security policy.
Explore Hybrid Cloud →Private Cloud Services
Dedicated, single-tenant infrastructure for compliance-driven workloads.
Explore Private Cloud →Managed Security Services
24/7 threat monitoring, vulnerability management and Cyber Essentials Plus certification.
Explore Managed Security →Latest Cloud Insights & Practical Guides
Independent analyses, architectural comparisons, and commercial advice designed to help UK leaders make grounded decisions across their cloud estates.
What Is Cloud Computing?
A plain-English guide covering fundamental delivery models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and commercial value for growing businesses.
Read Article →What Is Managed Cloud Services?
What genuine proactive cloud engineering delivers in scope and business ROI, beyond basic outsourced break-fix support.
Read Article →In-House vs Managed Cloud
Evaluating the hidden operational expenses, engineer recruitment challenges, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
Read Article →Cloud Cost Optimisation
Practical FinOps methodologies and rightsizing frameworks to eliminate compute waste and halt cloud billing drift.
Read Article →Cloud Migration Without Downtime
A structured approach to phasing cutovers, synchronising live data, and avoiding disruption during mission-critical moves.
Read Article →Cloud Security Best Practices
Zero Trust architecture, IAM hygiene, and shared responsibility frameworks to harden cloud workloads against modern threats.
Read Article →Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud
A vendor-neutral technical and commercial comparison across compute, storage, data analytics, and enterprise pricing.
Read Article →Public vs Private vs Hybrid Cloud
Evaluating regulatory compliance, data residency, and scalability to determine the right deployment model for your estate.
Read Article →Google Cloud services — the honest answers
Is NetMonkeys a certified Google Cloud partner?
Our formal accreditation is as a Microsoft Solutions Partner across five designations. We manage Google Cloud workloads for clients as part of wider multi-cloud environments, but we won't claim a Google-specific partner status we don't hold.
Should we move from Azure to Google Cloud?
Usually not wholesale, unless there's a specific reason — a data analytics or machine learning requirement GCP handles particularly well. Most businesses do better running the right workload on the right platform than migrating everything to chase one provider's strengths.
Can you manage GCP alongside our existing Microsoft 365 and Azure setup?
Yes — that's the most common scenario we see. We manage GCP, Azure and Microsoft 365 under one standard rather than as separate, disconnected contracts.
Do you support BigQuery specifically?
Yes, including query optimisation and cost management, which is where BigQuery spend most commonly gets out of hand if nobody's reviewing it.
What does Google cloud consulting actually involve?
An honest assessment of whether GCP suits your specific requirement, how it would integrate with any existing Azure or AWS environment, and a scoped recommendation — not a sales pitch for a platform we happen to prefer.
How much do managed Google Cloud services cost?
It depends on the size and complexity of your GCP environment. Most ongoing management contracts land between predictable monthly figures — we'll give a fixed figure after reviewing what you're actually running.
Let's work out whether Google Cloud is actually the right call.
An honest conversation first, a fixed price second — and no pressure toward the platform that happens to suit us best.
Talk to Us About Your GCP Estate
