Press Releases
07/15/2019
Governor Lamont: Centralized Agreement With Microsoft Leverages Discounts, Updates Tech Tools and Improves IT Security for State of Connecticut
(HARTFORD, CT) – Following up on his commitment to modernize state government and increase efficiencies across all agencies, Governor Ned Lamont today announced that his administration has reached a new, multi-year statewide contractual agreement with Microsoft, that upgrades internal technology, improves IT security, and leverages significant discounts, avoiding millions in future costs.
The new agreement with Microsoft provides savings and improvements in four areas:
- The statewide agreement provides greater discounts as a whole than any agency would be able to obtain individually across all five years of the agreement, avoiding an additional $8 million in future costs.
- The subscription-based, cloud software allows the state to adjust quantities up and down based on state workforce changes, thereby only paying for software when it is in use.The state will also avoid a costly planned upgrade to the email system and reduce server and storage purchases.
- Cross-agency and external collaboration will be simplified by providing a consistent set of new tools to share documents and work on multi-agency initiatives.
- Most importantly, the new agreement brings a greater degree of security to all state computers and data protection by upgrading to the most up-to-date software.Increasing security threats against the state require higher standards and thorough approach to protecting state data.
“Internal operations are often too slow and progress is hindered by the fact that many agencies use different versions of technology,” Governor Lamont said. “Oftentimes, this directly impact our residents and creates avoidable frustrations because we are not sharing information efficiently or quickly enough. By centralizing and upgrading aging state technology systems, we can save taxpayers money, while improving their experience, and provide our employees with the tools they want and need to serve the people of Connecticut better.”
“Previously, there were a dozen separate agency agreements resulting in higher licensing costs and disjointed software upgrades which would require additional IT support to maintain various operating systems across the state,” Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Josh Geballe said. “This agreement will streamline the products, unite state systems, and accelerate our adoption of cloud technologies – all with the intent of better customer service on behalf of state residents.”
“Microsoft technologies are at the heart of our daily operation in Connecticut state government,” Mark Raymond, the state’s Chief Information Officer, said. “Through this agreement, we are thrilled to bring greater security, cost efficiency, and streamlined operations to our state agencies.”
To take full advantage of Microsoft products, the Department of Administrative Services Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology will be collaborating with all executive branch state agencies in the deployment of Microsoft 365 technology over the next several months.
Governor Lamont will continue to announce programmatic enhancements to increase state efficiencies in the weeks and months ahead.
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