Office365 is being deployed to almost 150,000 government employees in Queensland, in a deal that that is expected to shave $A13.7 million off Microsoft licensing costs over three years.

The state’s public servants will use Office 365 for messaging and email, and are also expected to migrate to the Microsoft enterprise social network Yammer. 

“It’s a good news story out of the Queensland Government’s ICT Renewal Agenda and ICT Strategy 2013-17 that benefits government and Queenslanders,” said the Hon. Ian Walker MP, Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts.

“It is also a significant step forward in our plan to modernise the government ICT environment and move toward the vision of ICT as s service.

“It sees us move from a government owned and operated model to one that leverages world class solutions to deliver flexibility and economies of scale that drive innovation and transformation.”