With more than 1 billion active users, Google Maps is the world’s most popular online map platform. But it’s much more than an app on a smartphone. It’s a powerful set of APIs you can leverage to embed maps and location-based capabilities into your websites and apps that benefit your customers, site visitors, employees, and even your community.
Partnering with the right company can help you leverage Google Maps and Google Cloud products into further business success. But before you decide which Google partner you’ll use, you need to ask questions and understand their credentials to ensure you make the right choice.
Here are five criteria to help you evaluate your Google Maps partner.
1. How long have you worked with Google?
Any time you choose a partner to do business with, you get the best results if you select a provider with a proven record of success. Hexagon has more than 10 years of experience as a Premier Partner for Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud Platform.
As such, we work with more than 300 active Google Maps customers in retail, e-commerce, real estate, sharing economy and emerging technologies, transportation and fleet management, and government. We’ve also been awarded the Location-Based Services specialization badge and have been recognized by Google with multiple Partner of the Year Awards.
2. How well do you know Google’s products?
Experience leads to expertise, as does dedication. Hexagon has prioritized its relationship with Google, so we make sure our experts develop a full understanding of the latest technological advancements and updates and can pass their knowledge on to you.
Hexagon has committed, Google-certified engineering resources to help you configure and optimize Google API calls based on dozens of use cases and usage patterns. We have strong expertise in configuring both the Places API and Autocomplete API. Our Google-certified engineers will work with you to create an API optimization strategy to limit consumption and reduce costs.
3. What happens when an issue arises?
To make the most of your investment, you need minimal downtime and quick answers if something goes wrong. Hexagon strives to provide the highest quality service and support so you can avoid frustration and enjoy satisfaction.
We have a dedicated team of Google-certified account managers and engineers on standby to provide direct technical support and troubleshooting over the phone or by email. We supplement Google’s online, ticket-based support by providing direct, human-oriented technical and account management support.
4. How does payment work?
If the direct, online, credit card-only billing Google offers works for you, great. If not, Hexagon can work with you to build a payment plan that makes sense for your organization.
For Google Maps Platform, Google Cloud Platform, and GSuite, Hexagon can offer you flexible payment terms and offline billing options. If you use multiple Google products, Hexagon is also able to unify your billing into one statement for easier management and payment.
5. How will I know I’m getting my money’s worth?
Analyzing your usage can be tricky, especially if detailed information is hard to get. But Hexagon wants to help you make the most of your resources, so we make it easy to check for usage patterns and assess whether you’re on the best plan for your specific organization.
To better provide billing transparency and understanding, Hexagon provides custom reports and BigQuery/DataStudio dashboard environments that let you see, explore, and visualize API consumption and credit utilization for both the Google Maps and Google Cloud Platforms.
Once you’ve asked these questions, you’ll be in a better position to decide if a Google Maps partner is right for you. Learn more about what Hexagon and Google can do for you, or contact us to discuss building a partnership.
