Pick-and-choose model 'powerful,' B.C. CIO says

03.07.2009
Over 100 public sector organizations, including school districts, health authorities, crown corporations, agencies and municipalities have signed up for the same Microsoft toolset under an umbrella agreement between the Province of British Columbia and Microsoft Corp.

"Well in excess of 100,000 desktops are covered by that," said Dave Nikolejsin, CIO of B.C. Government in a virtual roundtable discussion on how government organizations in Canada are using innovation and technology to cut costs and improve services to citizens.

B.C. entered the broad Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft Corp. for advanced communication and collaboration toolsets in March 2009.

The intention was to make a commitment to a toolset that would be standardized across the broad enterprise of B.C. public service, find a way to do this cost effectively and accomplish all the business outcomes at the same time, explained Nikolejsin.

"The results have been pretty amazing," he said. "We went from a complete ad hoc environment where everyone was doing their own thing to pretty much most of the broader public sector in British Columbia."

The agreement includes full licensed versions of Office 2007, Office Communications Server, Groove and SharePoint (MOSS). MS Exchange was not included in the package. The toolset is coupled with the broad distribution of tablet PCs equipped with Wi-Fi and 3G wireless, noted Nikolejsin.