Google buys Synergyse to help you use its Apps

Synergyse will be incorporated into Google Apps, and made free for all users

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After years of me attempting to teach my mother how to use the Internet (with some actual success!), I can tell you that technology does not come easy to everyone. Sometimes people need a guiding hand to show them what they can do, and how they can do it. 

For Google Apps, that help came from Synergyse. a Chrome extension that puts a virtual guide into Google Apps, training users on how to get the most out of applications like Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Docs.

Synergyse was very successful at what it did, so naturally Google has come calling, announcing on Monday that it has bought the company. 

No financial terms of the deal were disclosed, but it was revealed that Synergyse  will be incorporated into Google docs for all users, who will be able to access it for free, at some point later this year. In the meantime, new customers will be able to download the Chrome extension for free while the company is being integrated. 

Apparenly a lot of people need help figuring out how to use Google Apps, as Synergyse was being used by 3,000 organizations worldwide, supporting four million people. Having that support really helped too, as, according to Google, those organizations that were using the service were seeing 35 percent higher adoption on average. So it's only natural that Google would want to extend that to everyone.

"By providing the right help at the right time, Synergyse will help our customers with the critical task of change management in the enterprise, and bolster the training and support programs we already offer today," Peter Scocimara, Senior Director of Google Apps Operations, wrote in a blog post.

For Synergyse, becoming part of Google means it can make its product even more useful, since it will have firsthand knowledge of how Google Apps work, and what the team will be coming up with.

"By joining the Google Apps team, we can accelerate our mission because we will be working even closer with the teams that build Google Apps. Advancing our mission at a faster speed is very exciting for the Synergyse team and our customers will directly see the benefits as we move forward," Varun Malhotra, Majid Manzarpour and Alex Kennberg, the founders of Synergyse, wrote in a blog post.

This is only Google's second acquisition this year, after it previously bought Singapore-based communications service Pie. The company has slowed down considerably in the number of companies it has been buying, after years of being an acquisition fiend.

Last year the company made 16 purchases, down from a pretty extraordinary 35 acquisitions in 2014. Not only that, but it's the only company with more than 100 in the last five years. Some of the companies it bought last year include Pixate, Oyster, Jibe Mobile and Divshot. 

Perhaps the number will start to rise again soon, now that Google is said to be building its own in-house incubator, which will give it a first look at the new companies being built by its employees.  

(Image source: synergyse.com)