An Australian state has purchased $26.5 million in Microsoft software applications to upgrade an information and communication technology system, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday.Sylvia Pennington writes the Queensland state’s government is targeting $13.7 million in savings over three years with the purchase of Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud applications.
The products will be deployed to 149,000 state-wide government employees and agencies save for Queensland’s education department, according to the report.
Ian Walker, information technology minister of Queensland, told the publication that adoption of the software tools will be optional.
A 2013 audit report indicated that up to $6 billion was needed to replace nearly a thousand flaw-infected software and hardware systems, the Herald reports.
Pennington writes that Walker previously announced the government’s plan to outsource IT services to the private sector and dissolve the center for information technology and communications.
