CIO finalises terms of new EA with Microsoft

The Central Informatics Organization (CIO) yesterday announced that they have finalized the terms of the new Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft, which falls in line with the new Government Mobility Strategy aiming to enable Government employees with technology tools and skills to be more productive, agile and efficient in order to empower the national transformation into a tech-savvy economy and achieving the aspirations of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.

“By giving the Government employees the freedom to work from anywhere and at any time using their favorite devices and platforms, we aim to increase productivity, simplify team collaboration and enhance their work-life balance,” said Sheikh Salman Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Director General of Information Technology at the Central Informatics Organization.

“This new EA with Microsoft comes as part of our strategy to improve the delivery of government information, products and services through technology, contained the operation costs through technology-enabled efficiencies and increase our government workforce productivity by empowering them with 21st century tools and skills.”

He added “We are confident that the new Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft will empower our employees with the needed technology tools and skills to help achieve the transformation in the work practices of the different government institutions in line with directives from our wise leadership on the migration of Bahrain to a tech-savvy economy and community.”

The new Enterprise Agreement will consist of the deployment of Office 365 Office ProPlus, which allows the employees to use a mix of business and personal devices (up to 15 devices per employee – 5 PC/MACs, 5 Tablets & 5 Phones) to office applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook while benefitting from a consistent experience across their favorite Windows, iOS and Android desktops, laptops, phones and tablets.

“We are pleased to continue our partnership journey with the Government of the Bahrain by empowering its employees with the right tools,” said Sherif Tawfik, General Country Manager for Microsoft Bahrain and Oman.

 “We are very aligned with Bahrain’s vision of putting technology at the heart of economic development. This renewed agreement will provide all government agencies and their employees the latest technology tools and products to allow them the freedom to be proactive and productive at any time of the day and from anywhere.”

Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus will provide all government employees access to the latest tools for productivity, collaboration, compliance and Business Intelligence (BI) with smooth ongoing upgrades.

It also gives access to an array of cloud-powered services that allow them to access their documents and complete their work from anywhere in a secured and trusted virtual environment.