The City of Plano in an excellent example where a government recognized how the  right technology could dramatically improve productivity. They wanted to enhance its technology service delivery while reducing its total cost of ownership. They quickly realized the best solution was Microsoft Cloud technologies. The IT team migrated to the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite to provide employees with simplified online access to email messages, calendar and task items, and shared documents. As a result, the city has reduced its IT costs, improved data security, and increased employee productivity.

By using Microsoft Exchange Online and Office Outlook Web Access, employees can send and receive email messages, manage calendars and tasks, and access contacts—all from a web browser on a mobile or desktop computing device. Because Microsoft Exchange Online incorporates powerful spam filtering and virus protection capabilities, it meets the city’s rigorous IT security standards.

The city uses Microsoft SharePoint Online to provide web-based tools for collaboration and content management. Several teams have taken advantage of SharePoint Online to set up intranet sites designed to provide current information on departmental initiatives and priorities. For example, the city’s police officers can check their department’s team site from their vehicles, or from a community substation, to view updates to policies, minutes from recent meetings, and best practices information. Similarly, the library system for the City of Plano uses its intranet site as a hub for communicating information about upcoming projects, new reading programs, and changes to the community events calendar.

The Police Department plans to use the Office Live Meeting web conferencing solution to conduct briefings and trainings that officers can access from field-based locations. This will enable officers to spend less time commuting to meetings and more time interacting with members of the community. Based on this pilot project, other city departments are evaluating the use of web conferencing.

View the Microsoft Case Study for additional details here