NSW govt agencies rolling out Microsoft cloud

More than 130,000 NSW government staff will be using Microsoft cloud, mobility and collaborative products, following a new agreement with the software giant.

The agreement – touted as the largest of its kind in Australia – will see the solutions deployed at the Departments of Health; Finance, Services and Innovation; Family and Community Services; Planning and Environment, and Justice.

These departments will access a range of cloud and mobility services – including Microsoft Office 365 – which are hosted in Microsoft’s local data centres, Microsoft’s head of public sector, Michael Gration said in a blog posted on Thursday.

According to Gration, agencies will be able to integrate cloud solutions with their existing Microsoft platforms, which will provide great potential over time for them to collaborate, share information, and encourage greater community feedback and engagement.

“Being able to store preferences, share knowledge more easily and automate more functions will also have a big impact on productivity,” Gration said.

NSW minister for finance and services, Dominic Perrottet, said having a cloud agreement in place enhances sharing across government, resulting in better information being available for different agencies, and improved data collection.

The NSW government spends $2 billion annually on ICT and this year, adopted a ‘digital first strategy with a focus on mobile apps, data analytics and internet technology. The plan is to make it easier for citizens to interact and transact with the government.