The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the Board of Investments (BOI) have followed the lead of the Department of Trade and Industry in adopting cloud computing in the public sector with the roll-out of Microsoft Office 365.
Late last year, the trade department became the first government agency to deploy the Office 365. As a cloud-based application, users pay subscription fees — not software licenses — for online services.
In a statement, the local office of Microsoft said the PPA and BOI are eyeing to modernize their workplace through the Office 365?s collaborative services such as instant messaging and video conferencing via Lync, team sites through SharePoint, and even social media for the workplace using Yammer.
The PPA, known for managing the operations of public ports throughout the Philippine archipelago, is the largest government agency to date to deploy Office 365. No financial details were disclosed, however.
Microsoft Philippines said the PPA aims to take advantage of the said full cloud service to help unload their datacenter through its flexible deployment options.
?The Philippine Ports Authority has chosen Microsoft in the expansion and modernization of its IT infrastructure. Given our numerous and scattered field offices around the archipelago, the Philippine Ports Authority requires a reliable cloud service that can enable our employees to be productive while shuttling between and coordinating across different ports,? Elizabeth Follosco, MIS department manager of PPA, said in a statement.
The BOI, the agency responsible for promoting foreign investment in the country, is also counting on the collaboration features of Office 365 to work and communicate with stakeholders and investors around the country and abroad.
?Microsoft Office 365 will contribute to our efforts in providing the best service to prospective investors. With this, we will be able to communicate with them more effectively regardless of location or time zone. Furthermore, Office 365?s secure features will give us and our partners the confidence that any critical information and data stored in the cloud are safe,? stated Manny Cruz of the BOI?s ICT systems division.
Karrie Ilagan, general manager of Microsoft Philippines, said the company is ?proud? that government agencies are moving to the cloud.
?We hope to empower even more government agencies with the technology that a modern workplace demands, which is marked by cloud, productivity, and data privacy,? Ilagan said in a statement.
