The Windy City Will Get Its Email from the Cloud

Microsoft has scored another big win thanks to an agreement with the City of Chicago on its Office 365 cloud-based solution.

A total of 30,000 employees will be moved to Microsoft’s service for cloud-based email and productivity, the company said in a press release.

This new deal would help the Windy City save up to $1.3 million (€985,000) over the next four years, with an 80 percent decrease in cost per employee. Employees will get access to all Microsoft Office 365 tools, including web-based versions of Microsoft Outlook, Word, OneNote, Excel, Lync and PowerPoint.

“The cloud strategy gives City employees the ability to do their jobs more effectively while saving taxpayer dollars, decreasing duplication among departments and streamlining our operations across the board,” said Brett Goldstein, the City’s chief information officer and the commissioner of the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT).