NSW enters major cloud agreement with Microsoft

The NSW government has entered a major agreement with Microsoft to make the vendor’s cloud, mobility and collaborative technologies available to government departments.

Under the deal, NSW departments will be able to access a range of Microsoft’s cloud and mobility services hosted in the company’s local data centres, including Office 365 and collaboration software such as Skype.

In a blog post announcing the deal, Microsoft Australia Head of Public Sector Michael Gration said a key benefit for departments will the ability to integrate cloud services with existing Microsoft platforms.

“[This] will provide great potential over time for them to collaborate, share information and encourage greater community feedback and engagement,” he said.

The NSW departments of Health, Finance, Services and Innovation, Family and Community Services, Planning and Environment and Justice will be the first to adopt the new services. Together these departments house around 130,000 employees.

NSW Minister for Finances and Services Dominic Perrottet said the NSW government is the largest economy in Australia and spends over $2 billion annually as part of its ICT strategy.

“By tapping into this new agreement with Microsoft, by having a cloud computing agreement, we’re able to enhance sharing across government,” he said in a promotional video.

“That’s going to result in better information available to different agencies, better data collection and importantly, better outcomes for our citizens and our public services.”

Image courtesy of Mike Mozart under CC