Google Bets on Agents

Google used its Cloud Next conference on April 22 to sell “agents” as the next layer of enterprise software, not just another chatbot. (blog.google) In Google’s pitch, an agent is software that can take actions across business systems after reading company data and user prompts. Cloud Next introduced a Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said companies need “agents and applications” built on models and secured infrastructure. (cloud.google.com) Google tied that product push to a large customer on day one. Merck said on April 22 that it will use Gemini Enterprise to support research and development, manufacturing, commercial work, and corporate functions as part of what the drugmaker called a “landmark partnership.” (merck.com) Merck said the deal is meant to “enhance Merck’s digital backbone as an AI-enabled enterprise” and extend existing work with Google Cloud. Reuters reported that coverage of the tie valued it near $1 billion. (merck.com, reuters.com) Google’s strategy is to make agents part of the software stack companies already buy from cloud vendors. Sundar Pichai wrote on April 22 that Google is showing customers how to become an “agentic enterprise,” while Google Cloud’s event blog framed the conference around moving AI “into production across your entire enterprise.” (blog.google, cloud.google.com) That sales effort runs through partners as much as through Google’s own apps. Salesforce said on April 22 that customers will be able to deploy agents across Slack and Google Workspace, with Salesforce Agentforce and Gemini Enterprise supplying the reasoning and business context. (salesforce.com) Salesforce said the new integrations are designed to let agents run end-to-end workflows across both companies’ platforms while reducing “context switching” and limiting data movement between systems. The companies also said connectors to Google BigQuery and zero-copy access to Google’s lakehouse data are part of the expansion. (salesforce.com, stocktitan.net) Google is also using Gemini Enterprise as a storefront for outside developers. Google Cloud said on April 22 that partner-built agents from its Agent Marketplace are being added directly into the Agent Gallery in the Gemini Enterprise app, including tools from companies such as Adobe and Atlassian. (cloud.google.com) The company has been adding management features needed for larger rollouts. Google Cloud release notes on April 21 said Gemini Enterprise administrators can now view an agent’s identity on the agent details page, a governance feature aimed at companies running multiple internal agents. (docs.cloud.google.com) The bet is that enterprise customers will spend on AI when it is bundled into systems they already use for sales, collaboration, data, and operations. Cloud Next turned that argument into Google’s clearest message yet: the money is in agents that can move across the whole company. (blog.google, reuters.com)