Milwaukee County moves to Office 365

Milwaukee County, the largest in the state of Wisconsin, recently switched to Microsoft Office 365 from Lotus Notes to improve the communication of its 3,375 government employees.

Mike Donlan, Microsoft’s vice president for U.S. state and local team, wrote on the company’s blog that Milwaukee County Chief Technology Officer Nicholas Wojciechowski chose Office 365 because it allows employees the flexibility to build a successful approach to streamlining communication.

“Milwaukee County is not alone in making this type of choice, based on flexibility, security, and reliability,” Donlan wrote. “It’s just one of many state and local government organizations across the U.S. working hard to ensure that their employees communicate better and can get their work done faster.”

He continued: “With this high bar for communications, governments like Milwaukee County still face a number of unique challenges, such as integrating new solutions with existing investments as well as meeting important government standards and regulations, such as CJIS and HIPAA.”

According to Donlan, over the last 18 months, Microsoft has helped many state and local government organizations like Milwaukee County move to the cloud and is now helping jurisdictions add other solutions such as Yammer, SharePoint Online and Windows devices in support of their long-term technology upgrades.

“According to Mr. Wojciechowski, the fact that the Office 365 approach meets the important compliance standards and regulations of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act meant that Milwaukee County could trust that its data—whether it’s specific to health, law enforcement, or citizen services—is secure,” Donlan wrote. “This fact alone puts Mr. Wojciechowski’s mind at ease and allows him to move on to addressing other important needs as part of his technology leadership with the County.”