In an encouraging sign of a continued commitment to the Cloud, the government has extended its relationship with Cloud collaboration and content management provider Huddle.
Under the terms of a new agreement with the Government, Huddle is the first cloud supplier to recognise government as a single ICT customer with specific pricing. The firm already works with more than 60 percent of central government departments including DEFRA, the Cabinet Office, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Alistair Mitchell, CEO and co-founder, Huddle, said:
“These agreed terms are evidence of the fact that the Cloud is now at the heart of the public sector’s drive to increase efficiency, productivity and achieve cost savings,” said "Costly on-premise legacy ICT systems that have been deployed to support collaboration are simply not up to the job. Organisations require a secure cross-platform, cross-firewall tool and our figures show that government could save more than £100 million by replacing the likes of SharePoint with Huddle. As this agreement demonstrates, it is possible for start-ups to secure deals with government and move into an area that has been dominated by systems integrators and technology goliaths. Following, David Cameron’s push to support the UK’s technology ecosystem, now is the time for the industry to really shine.”
Huddle is used by more than 85,000 organisations worldwide, including Disney, AKQA, HTC and Kia Motors, to securely manage projects, files and people inside and outside of their business. Huddle can be accessed online, on desktops via Microsoft Office applications, on the move with BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad apps and on social networks: LinkedIn, Ning and XING. It is currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese.
Tola Serjeant of research house TechMarketView commented:
“Huddle looks to be making a big splash for a small company and is clearly a dab hand at 'talking the talk'. At the same time, the Cabinet Office Efficiency & Reform Group will be delighted that it can communicate progress on two key strategies – 1. the move to the cloud and 2. increasing the amount of business done with SMEs/start-ups. But let’s not forget that Microsoft also has a Cloud version of SharePoint within Microsoft Office 365 (Office SharePoint Online). And it, too, will be looking to evolve its government-wide agreement (PSA09) to incorporate its cloud offerings. Microsoft won’t be ready to give up £100 million – more than a quarter of its revenues from UK Government – without a fight, but the competition is certainly getting fiercer. ”
