Microsoft announces the availability of numerous advanced capabilities in
Office 365, which are new for the U.S. Government Community. The U.S. Government Community Cloud complies with necessary federal requirements for cloud services, which include FedRAMP along with requirements for information systems for criminal justice and federal tax.
Microsoft, in its official blog, states that the new capabilities include Skype for Business cloud voice, video and meetings services, advanced security workloads, and data analytics tools, along with core productivity and collaboration capabilities. Well, these features would help in enabling U.S. Government workers to collaborate in new ways and drive digital transformation across all areas of agency operations, all while meeting stringent compliance standards.
Communication-powered productivity
“Productivity today is centered on conversations, whether it’s a quick instant message, an impromptu phone call or a scheduled meeting with voice, video and content sharing. But government employees’ ability to connect, especially between agencies, has always been limited.”
Skype for Business cloud-based voice and meetings in Office 365 now enables the U.S. Government Community Cloud customers to replace their legacy meeting as well as phone systems with modern voice and meetings, which has been integrated with the work which the civil servants are already conducting in Office, and as per the company, it will go on to provide “greater continuity they collaborate and communicate throughout their day.”
The new Skype for Business services goes on to include the following:
- PSTN Conferencing: It provides you with the ability to dial in to a meeting from a traditional phone along with the option to join a meeting with a single click on your PC or mobile device.
- Cloud PBX: It enables companies to eliminate separate PBX systems and transition to the cloud with Office 365 as the central location to manage users for communication.
- PSTN Calling: This will provide all the Office 365 users with the ability to subscribe to Microsoft-managed calling plans and phone numbers.
Microsoft states,
“With Skype for Business cloud voice and meetings in Office 365, U.S. Government Community Cloud customers can now simplify their infrastructure, lower costs and empower employees like never before.”
Advanced security to protect your organization
Microsoft is also offering U.S. Government Community Cloud users significant security capabilities, whose main aim is to help improving the ability of protecting the information of the organization. The new capabilities come with the following features.
- Customer Lockbox: It provides the customers with new approval rights, transparency and control over their data in the cloud.
- Advanced eDiscovery: This helps in Integrates Equivio machine learning, predictive coding and text analytics capabilities, so as to reduce the costs and challenges which comes with sorting through large quantities of data for eDiscovery purposes.
- Advanced Threat Protection: This helps in protecting against unknown malware and viruses by applying behavioral analysis.
Data-fueled insights
The company is also offering advanced data analytics capabilities in Office 365 to U.S. Government Community Cloud users which will go on to enable the government to reduce costs and uncover data insights so as to provide better services to citizens.
- Power BI Pro: (now available as preview in U.S. Government Community Cloud)—A business analytics service that enables information workers to visualize and analyze data with greater speed, efficiency and understanding through live data dashboards, interactive reports and compelling visualizations.
- Microsoft MyAnalytics: Empowers individuals through rich dashboards that provide insights on time and relationships, with the goal of helping individuals get time back and spend it more effectively.
The company states,
“U.S. Government Community Cloud customers can now use the most secure, most comprehensive productivity solution on the market, with the assurance that Office 365 will continue to evolve to meet their changing needs.”