The United States Department Of Agriculture is responsible for handling over 120,000 clients, so when they decided that they need a better customer management infrastructure they decided to turn to Microsoft’s cloud computing solutions. After receiving many offers, Dell was ultimately awarded the lucrative contract. Although Microsoft’s software would help support the USDA, another company would need to be responsible for the massive migration of files, records and the contact details of their customer base. Within Microsoft’s business solutions will help the USDA to come up with a better customer acquisition strategy while giving existing clients better access to their company resources. The move is expected to cut the company’s overhead by $6 million a year once complete. The USDA expects that it will take Dell approximately three years to move the USDA’s new and existing customers’ data to Microsoft, but it will lead towards a more streamlined and efficient way of doing business.
The biggest concern of the USDA was the security of their customers’ sensitive information. Partnering with Microsoft and Dell mean that they could be certain that security breaches will not be an issue. These two major forces in the IT and cloud computing industries have created a long list of software solutions and elearning tools that help businesses and employees cut down on the time and effort needed to continue their operations. The USDA will be able to use the cloud computing technology offered by Microsoft in order to keep their back office running smoothly. Meetings will be able to be held without complications due to a fully integrated communications system that will allow employees to run their virtual meetings in the background of their computers while they continue to work on other tasks. Also, they will be able to send text notes that express their feelings without fear of interrupting the speakers. If all goes well between Dell, Microsoft and the USDA, more US government agencies may consider switching to this technology.