Microsoft and West Australian Government Ink Major Cloud Contract, Cybersecurity MoU

In major headway for Microsoft, it has inked a new Whole of Government Agreement with the Western Australia (WA) government. The agreement will ensure that all the departments and agencies of the Government of Western Australia will get access to Microsoft’s cloud services. The contract is in line with WA government’s strategic digital goals of maximizing value from investments and ensuring security, transparency, and capability.

Although most agencies of the WA government already use Microsoft Azure, this deal ensures that now all the agencies can use the service while benefiting from other cloud services by Microsoft, such as Teams, Office 365 and Dynamics 365, and Windows Virtual Desktop.

Talking about the new deal with the WA government, Steven Worrall, the managing director of Microsoft Australia, said, “we are delighted to be able to extend our long term relationship with the WA government ensuring that all agencies will have access to the sorts of high-value digital technologies that can transform the way they operate and engage with citizens and businesses.”

Additionally, WA’s State Office of Digital Government has also inked a security-centric Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft. The MoU is aimed at better cybersecurity for the government and ensuring collaboration of organizations to identify and eliminate cybercrimes.

Worrall further added, “the MoU will also elevate Western Australia’s cybersecurity posture by ensuring access to leading-edge technology, real-time insights, and the opportunity to collaborate on initiatives to target and eradicate cybercrime. Microsoft will also provide specialized security training to WA personnel, and we look forward to working together on this important issue.”

This new agreement signed between the Redmond-based IT giant and the WA government will lay the foundation for a novel digital transformation of the Australian government. Microsoft said that most of the state’s agencies already use Microsoft Azure, wherein 15 agencies use Azure Security Centre, while the other 10 use Azure Sentinel.

Microsoft’s expansion into the Australian market has been long in the making. A marker of the same was evident in 2018, when Microsoft became the first global cloud provider to be awarded the Certification for Protected data in Australia. Back in 2018, the then Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Angus Taylor had stated, “it has never been more important for the government and Australian enterprises to strategically manage cybersecurity risks. Awarding Microsoft the Protected Certification reflects the Turnbull Government’s commitment to prioritize and deliver secure cloud services, ensuring a very high level of security for Australians.”

The WA government is also looking at the Microsoft deal as an opportunity to bolster the security infrastructure of government’s agencies through Microsoft’s advanced security technology. With Microsoft’s rising stature in the Australian market, the recent WA government deal will only help the Redmond-based company scale up in the market down under.

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