Fujitsu and Microsoft team up for Skype for Business for government

Fujitsu has partnered up with Microsoft to create a new Government unified communications service based on Skype for Business, available through the New Zealand Government telecommunications-as-a-service panel.

The vendor was appointed to the telecommunications-as-a-service panel late last year, along with 11 other companies including Spark Digital, Datacom Systems Wellington, Vodafone and Dimension Data.

The GoCommunicate offering gives agencies an integrated service bringing IT and communications together in a monthly fee per user model.

Stuart Stitt, Fujitsu New Zealand managing director, says GoCommunicate helps connect Government, citizens and businesses, using a common and familiar tool.

"Citizens and businesses will now be able to use Skype to message, talk to and video call Government agencies," Stitt says.

Fujitsu says its inclusion in the telecommunications-as-a-service panel complements its position as an end-to-end ITC provider to the New Zealand Government.

The company is also a member of the Government's IT managed services and desktop-as-a-service panels.

Fujitsu says 'many' government agencies are already using its service aggregation capability for managing their entire ICT vendor environment, through the IT managed services panel.

Mike Bullock, Fujitsu New Zealand general manager of sales, says with the recently updated ITMS service, GoDaaS, and the TaaS panel, agencies have easy access to an end-to-end ICT service from the vendor.

"These panels reduce the cost for both the industry and agencies, enabling Government to focus its efforts on using technology to engage with citizens and businesses,  and making the public sector more efficient and faster moving," Bullock says.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says the telecommunications-as-a-service panel alone is expected to save taxpayers at least $20 million to $30 million within the first two years.

The panel provides a range of telecommunications and managed security services for government agencies, with the services able to be purchased on-demand easily, with no minimumm terms or volume.