Stayin' aligned, stayin' aligned. Image: screengrab

Seven independent software providers have joined forces to make it easier for businesses to find and deploy applications that complement Google Apps.

Known as the Cloud Alliance for Google Apps, the new consortium claims that its collaborative model is a first among vendors in the Google Apps Marketplace — the online web store for applications that dovetail with Mountain View’s online office suite. The Alliance includes Cloud Sherpas (and its SherpaTools application), Expensify, Insightly, Okta, RunMyProcess, SmartSheet, and Spanning.

“It’s suc...