Microsoft Office 365 Customer Solution Case Study Government Boosts Service Delivery, Saves Tax Payers Money with Cloud-Based Tools Overview Country or Region: United States Industry: Public sector—State and local government Customer Profile The US Virgin Islands (USVI) is an organized unincorporated US territory that consists of four major Caribbean islands (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Water Island) that are home to more than 106,000 citizens. Business Situation USVI wanted to streamline communication and collaboration among department staffs so that they could provide more efficient government services. Solution USVI is providing cohesive, efficient service delivery by using unified communication and collaboration services from Microsoft Office 365. Benefits Expedites contract approval Improves services to grow economy Reduces employee downtime Promotes virtual teamwork “Today, using Office 365, the government works as a more efficient, professional, and customer-dedicated organization.” Reuben D. Molloy, Chief Information Technology Officer, Government of the US Virgin Islands The Government of the US Virgin Islands (USVI) aims to provide efficient services at low cost. To achieve this goal, USVI needed to standardize on a single communication and collaboration solution for employees across 23 agencies. It reduced siloed government functions, automated paper-based business processes, and expedited government services because employees are using the messaging and collaboration technologies in Microsoft Office 365. With a single business productivity solution, USVI employees can provide the same high level of cohesive government services across the territory. USVI can obtain contract approvals and issue business licenses in days instead of months, conduct field inspections faster than the old schedule, and reduce employee downtime by resolving IT issues remotely.
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Microsoft Office 365Customer Solution Case Study
Government Boosts Service Delivery, Saves Tax Payers Money with Cloud-Based Tools
OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Public sector—State and local government
Customer ProfileThe US Virgin Islands (USVI) is an organized unincorporated US territory that consists of four major Caribbean islands (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Water Island) that are home to more than 106,000 citizens.
Business SituationUSVI wanted to streamline communication and collaboration among department staffs so that they could provide more efficient government services.
SolutionUSVI is providing cohesive, efficient service delivery by using unified communication and collaboration services from Microsoft Office 365.
Benefits Expedites contract approval Improves services to grow economy Reduces employee downtime Promotes virtual teamwork
“Today, using Office 365, the government works as a more efficient, professional, and customer-dedicated organization.”
Reuben D. Molloy, Chief Information Technology Officer, Government of the US Virgin Islands
The Government of the US Virgin Islands (USVI) aims to provide efficient services at low cost. To achieve this goal, USVI needed to standardize on a single communication and collaboration solution for employees across 23 agencies. It reduced siloed government functions, automated paper-based business processes, and expedited government services because employees are using the messaging and collaboration technologies in Microsoft Office 365. With a single business productivity solution, USVI employees can provide the same high level of cohesive government services across the territory. USVI can obtain contract approvals and issue business licenses in days instead of months, conduct field inspections faster than the old schedule, and reduce employee downtime by resolving IT issues remotely.
When Reuben Molloy joined the Government of the US Virgin Islands (USVI) as Chief Information Technology Officer, he was charged with choosing a single email solution for a connected network of 23 agencies. Molloy saw this directive as part of a larger vision to enable the government to provide efficient and cost-effective services to all citizens.
Proficient government requires cohesive service delivery and unified collaboration and communication technologies. Until recently, USVI did not have this kind of IT infrastructure. Molloy saw an opportunity to take advantage of cloud computing that would allow USVI to focus on providing better services without worrying about physical infrastructure or data security.
“The real mission was to facilitate the business of government by changing the culture of computing at USVI,” he says. “Microsoft Office 365 offered us much more than cloud-based email. With everyone using the same communication and collaboration tools, the divisions between our agencies are disappearing. We can work better together to improve government services for our citizens.”
Disjointed Operations USVI agencies used everything from old versions of Microsoft Exchange Server to personal, web-based email accounts. “It didn’t reflect well on the government when Commissioners were using personal email accounts to apply for grants,” says Molloy. “It didn’t help with cohesive service delivery if we couldn’t share calendars, or if it took a day to get to a meeting on another island.”
USVI staffers did not have a collaboration solution for virtual teamwork and everyone relied on paper-based processes. “It took
several months to get a contract approved,” says Molloy. “This reduced our credibility, discouraging some of the best vendors from even responding, which impacts the quality of services we provide.”
Supporting 3,200 employees on all three islands was a challenge for Molloy and the small IT staff. “We spent a lot of time traveling around to visit desktops,” says Mark Bough, Network Systems Administrator for the Government of the US Virgin Islands in St. Croix.
Complies with Federal Security RequirementsUSVI paid close attention to the security features within Office 365 to ensure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). “When I saw that Office 365 enabled us to be HIPAA compliant, I felt comfortable,” says Molloy. “And we allayed the concerns of the US Virgin Islands Police Department regarding leaks and accidental disclosures of sensitive information. Our Office 365 environment enables us to set access control and distribution restrictions along with our cloud-based email service and to encrypt email messages.”
Expedites Contract ApprovalInstead of it taking six months to route papers through a contract approval process, today USVI expects the process to take approximately 10 days. “Minimizing the bureaucracy makes us look more efficient, which helps us win business with the best companies,” says Molloy.
Improves Services to Grow EconomyThe Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs (DLCA) processes
24
“Our police department’s concerns about confidential information leaks through email were allayed by the fact that, with Exchange Online, we can encrypt our email messages.”
Reuben D. Molloy, Chief Information Technology Officer, Government of the
US Virgin Islands
approximately 14,000 business licenses annually, a government service with direct impact to the local economy. The faster licenses are issued, the faster local business can get to work. However, with manual processes, it was a challenge to ensure efficient license processing. “We’re using Office 365 to make sure that people get their business licenses quickly, helping to generate a healthy economy for our island communities,” says Horace Graham, Jr., Assistant Director of the Division of Licensing at the DLCA. “Now that we collaborate efficiently online with the Internal Revenue Bureau, we can issue a license in three days instead of it taking weeks. Renewals have gone from three weeks to a matter of hours.”
The DLCA reduced the time required to notify officers in their Enforcement Division that an inspection is required. “Inspections used to take several weeks, now we are down to an average of five days. That’s because we store licensing data on our intranet and the enforcement officers receive a notification when there’s an inspection ready,” says Wayne Biggs, Jr., Commissioner at the DLCA.
With Office 365 USVI has improved inter-office communication and reduced paper consumption to a significant degree. Instead of taking a printed form to the cashier, clients’ payment information is electronically transmitted, showcasing the communication capabilities of Office 365. “Licensing officers send the payment information in an instant message to the cashier, and she clarifies any concerns in a quick chat,” says Graham. “We’ve effectively reduced the license processing time by weeks.”
Reduces Employee DowntimeNow that USVI uses Office 365, IT staff saves time by not having to manage disparate email solutions. Staffers can set up web conferences from their desktops instead of wasting time flying to inter-island offices. “Instead of waiting for a technician to fix my computer, Mark [Bough] used our web conferencing service to provide remote support and solved the issue in minutes,” says Graham. “Before, it would have taken days to make an appointment and get it done. Now we can use that time to work more productively on government business that benefits our constituents.”
Promotes Virtual TeamworkDLCA staffers save hours of time writing reports that contain data from many contributors. Staffers use browser-based access to their files to access report drafts from anywhere they have Internet access. They can also simultaneously edit the document. “We’re currently using Office 365 to store and collaborate on documents and spreadsheets for a project to update our licensing categories so that they align more closely to the North American Industry Classification System standard,” says Graham. “With more efficient virtual
34
“With Office 365 ProPlus we each get five instances of the latest Office suite that we can load on five devices. Now we can work anywhere on any device with the same up-to-date documents at our fingertips.”
Reuben D. Molloy, Chief Information Officer, Government of the US Virgin
Islands
For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com
For more information about the Government of the US Virgin Islands visit the website at: www.vi.gov
teamwork, we can focus on serving our constituents. We see the future as very bright working with Office 365.”
The Technologies InvolvedUSVI employees use many Office 365 services to work efficiently: Microsoft Exchange Online for email and calendaring services, Microsoft Lync Online for web conferencing and instant messaging, and Microsoft SharePoint Online to automate workflows. Staffers sync documents between their devices with Office 365 ProPlus, and use Office Online to simultaneously edit drafts and work in virtual teams.
Microsoft Office 365The new Office provides anywhere access to your familiar Office applications—plus email, calendar, videoconferencing, and your most current documents—on almost any device, from PCs to smartphones to tablets.
For more information about Microsoft Office 365, go to:www.office365.com
44
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published May 2014
Related Documents
