Brighton Council recently ditched its computer servers and moved all their electronic data to Microsoft’s Azure ‘cloud’ platform. Things like rates, financials, asset management and GIS mapping are now all cloud based.  With access to the data they need - staff can now work out in the community as well as they can in the office.

Brighton Council’s General Manager Ron Sanderson said, “Because there is no server infrastructure, we’ve also eliminated the risk of  server crashes, the associated cost issues, staff frustration and deadline disruption. Furthermore, all our input is encrypted and stored in the cloud and we don’t need to worry about backing up files. When you build in the lightning quick response times and a greater sovereignty over our business data, moving to Azure became a no-brainer for us.” Ron is pictured, with Council’s IT solutions architect Scott Christian.

Microsoft Australia’s State Director Tasmania, Michael Bennett, said “Brighton Council is undergoing a true transformation in the way they deliver services to citizens, powered by the cloud. As an organisation, it has led the way among its public sector peers and its constituents in northern Hobart will be the true benefactors of the investment in technology.”  The Council is the first of Tasmania’s 29 councils to completely embrace cloud technology, putting it firmly at the forefront of innovation in the Australian Local Government sphere.

Brighton Council is no stranger to innovation in technology, having developed and marketed software through a business enterprise called CouncilWise which currently has 32 clients in Australia. In fact, the tech savvy Council recently negotiated an exciting international business deal to develop and promote the CouncilWise product’s deployment in the cloud with Microsoft in the Australasian region!

Ron Sanderson said “This is the way of the future for Local Government around Australia. Our CouncilWise business and our partnership with Microsoft can help ensure this outcome.”