Cloud Alliance for Google Apps Adds Zendesk, UberConference and Esna

Founded nearly two years ago by seven market-leading software providers, the Cloud Alliance for Google Apps, the only consortium of ISVs in the Google Apps space, aims to share best practices for operating in this ecosystem among its members and raise awareness of the Google Apps platform to the broader public.

When the Alliance was founded, we knew it would play a crucial part in promoting and unifying the ecosystem, but in those early days actually proving the Alliance’s value at large was more challenging. As both BetterCloud and the Alliance matured, we realized there was a scarcity of information regarding Google Apps usage and adoption. Since the Alliance was comprised of seven leading ISVs, we knew we had the reach to survey and uncover information on the space no one had ever published. What resulted was our first annual survey, which has now been downloaded by thousands of people interested in learning more about Google Apps.

The value of the survey was proven to us when numerous reporters began to cover our data. It was pretty clear that people were interested in Google Apps, but the numbers to prove how it was impacting enterprises on a larger scale weren’t previously available.

Since releasing that first survey, the Cloud Alliance has twice added new members to its roster. In June 2012, the Alliance added ShuttleCloud, Harvest, Yesware and Lucidchart and today, we’re pleased to announce the addition of Zendesk, UberConference and Esna, three leaders in the Google Apps and cloud ecosystems. Each of the Alliance’s newest members have been game changers in their respective fields: customer service software, unified communications and teleconferencing. In fact, BetterCloud relies on products from these companies in our own business everyday.

Second Annual Cloud Alliance for Google Apps Survey

To continue the Alliance’s momentum and provide further information regarding the adoption, growth and usage of Google Apps, the group has partnered with a leading analyst firm to conduct another large scale survey of more than 100,000 Google Apps admins. We hope to gather information about the use of Google Apps, complementary third party products, improvements that need to be made, how Google stacks up against its competitors and more.

Annual Member Summit

Another key piece of the Cloud Alliance has been its annual member summits. Last year, the alliance held its summit in New York City. Members shared best practices on everything from product marketing to tracking installs, gathering customer feedback and much more. The second annual member summit will be held this October in San Francisco.

BetterCloud is extremely excited to be part of this group of top enterprise technology companies and we look forward to continuing the growth and maturation of the Alliance.

For more on today’s announcement, see the full press release below.

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The Cloud Alliance for Google Apps Welcomes Zendesk, Esna and UberConference
Three market-leading software vendors join the consortium’s prestigious roster

NEW YORK, August 7, 2013 — The Cloud Alliance for Google Apps today announced the addition of three new member companies to its prestigious roster. The Alliance’s newest members, Zendesk, Esna and UberConference, are among some of the most popular and heavily used products in the Google Apps and SaaS ecosystems. These providers were chosen based on customer feedback, depth of integration with the Google Apps suite and market-leading potential in their respective fields, customer service software, unified communications and teleconferencing.

The Alliance, an independent network of cloud software developers building products heavily integrated with Google Apps, strives to foster a community among Google Apps Marketplace vendors and promote the ecosystem as a whole. In the coming months, the Cloud Alliance will be sponsoring a number of initiatives to further promote Google Apps including an industry-wide survey with research firm Frost & Sullivan, as well as a member summit this fall.

“We’re thrilled to add Zendesk, Esna and UberConference to the Cloud Alliance,” said David Politis, Chairman of the Alliance and CEO of founding member, BetterCloud. “These companies are three of the most dynamic players in this space and we’re confident their contributions to the Alliance will help to further our agenda of advocating for Google Apps specifically and cloud technology in general.”

The Alliance’s newest members join founding members BetterCloud, Insightly, Fujitsu RunMyProcess, Smartsheet and Spanning as well as Harvest, Lucidchart, ShuttleCloud and Yesware, who joined the Alliance in June 2012. As the Google Apps ecosystem continues to expand and mature, the Alliance will look to add new strategic partners in the months ahead.

About Zendesk
Zendesk builds cloud software for better customer service, bringing companies and their customers closer together. With Zendesk, companies engage directly and openly with customers, building more meaningful customer relationships that last a lifetime. More than 30,000 companies, such as Gilt Groupe, Disney and Box, use Zendesk to provide service to more than 200 million people worldwide. Founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, Zendesk has offices in seven countries and funding from Charles River Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs, GGV Capital, Index Ventures, Matrix Partners, and Redpoint Ventures. Learn more at www.zendesk.com.

About Esna
Esna is a global leader in cloud-enabled unified communication and collaboration solutions. Esna integrates cloud, mobile and social communications with cloud applications from Google, Salesforce, Jive and others. Esna gives millions of information workers the freedom to choose how, when and where they communicate and collaborate with one another. For more information, visit www.esna.com.

About UberConference
UberConference launched in 2012 and is funded by Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures. Founder and CEO Craig Walker has more than 15 years experience in telephony, having built and sold the companies that became Yahoo! Voice and Google Voice, respectively. With UberConference, he and his team have redesigned the teleconference to fix all the broken and outdated aspects of traditional conference calling, and make it a more productive business tool. To learn more go to www.uberconference.com.

About Cloud Alliance for Google Apps
Founded in 2011, the Cloud Alliance for Google Apps is a trusted network of independent cloud software providers that build and deploy applications heavily integrated with the Google Apps platform. Members include BetterCloud, Esna, Harvest, Insightly, Lucidchart, Fujitsu RunMyProcess, ShuttleCloud, Smartsheet, Spanning, Yesware, UberConference and Zendesk.