Federal agency moves email to the cloud

The General Services Administration recently announced that it is moving its 15,000 employees’ email services to a cloud-based email solution. It is the first federal agency to move its entire staff to the cloud system.

The move is part of a $6.7 million contract GSA awarded to a collaborative group of cloud providers. With the move, the GSA hopes to cut costs by 50 percent over the next five years.

“Cloud computing has a demonstrated track record of cost savings and efficiencies,” said GSA Chief Information Officer Casey Coleman. “With this award, GSA employees will have a modern, robust email and collaboration platform that better supports our mission and our mobile work force, and costs half as much.”

Cloud computing helps businesses save money by cutting down on hardware for data storage.

The federal government has been a major proponent of cloud computing. The Obama Administration recently implemented a “cloud first” IT strategy, ordering agencies to seek cloud solutions whenever possible. Dave McClure, an associate administrator for the GSA, called the email move an example of Obama’s “cloud first” policy.