Appirio Makes Third Cloud Acquisition In Two Months

San Francisco-based VMG is a consultancy specializing in structured, cloud-focused training and learning programs that increase cloud adoption and customer satisfaction, wrote Appirio CEO Chris Barbin in a blog post announcing San Mateo, Calif.-based Appirio's acquisition of VMG. While the VMG buy is Appirio's third in two months, it also marks the third acquisition in the company's history.

"The technology industry is plagued with stories about companies spending thousands to millions of dollars on a new piece of technology, only to leave users on their own to figure out those new systems and processes," Barbin wrote. "It's been a consistent problem in the on-premise world, and can be just as big of an issue for SaaS customers and vendors, where applications are upgraded every few months (not every few years) and where the cost to switch providers is so much lower."

Appirio's CEO continued: "VMG has been a partner of Appirio's for the last two years. They've helped build out our Google Apps and Salesforce CRM training programs and have engaged with us in some of our top customer accounts. During that time we came to admire the quality of the people and their philosophy around training that put the users and their experience at the center, not the technology."

Barbin said VMG's staff will be dispersed throughout Appirio's sales, deliver and solution architect teams to act as a key differentiator by enabling Appirio to ensure user adoption and customer satisfaction at every level of the cloud delivery process.

"As enterprise cloud projects become more involved and complex, this holistic approach will be one of the ways cloud service brokerages like Appirio differentiate themselves from the traditional service providers of the past," Barbin wrote.

The VMG acquisition follows Appirio's purchase of Infowelders last month. Infowelders is a Salesforce.com consulting and ISV player. Appirio grabbed Louisville, Ky.-based Infowelders to further sharpen its chops as a Salesforce partner through Infowelders full-service consulting around Salesforce, its sales cloud prowess, its service cloud and its custom development.

Appirio's cloud computing shopping spree officially started in February when Apprio acquired TRE3 Group, an advisory group that helps sales, marketing and support teams work by better tying with collaborative selling solutions joining together CRM and the social Web. The TRE3 Group acquisition gives Appirio new collaborative selling and social CRM weapons in its cloud computing arsenal.