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LA County brings its 100,000 employees together with Office 365

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On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that Los Angeles County is moving more than 100,000 employees working in more than 30 departments to Office 365. The county is the largest in the nation, and it’s decided to go with Office 365 to get all employees on the same platform and “on an even playing field,” said Richard Sanchez, Los Angeles County's chief information officer.

This move gives L.A. County workers access to the tools that come standard in Office 365, such as email; productivity apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint; voice and video conferencing and other collaboration tools; the ability to work from anywhere and virtually any device; and built-in security and privacy compliance. It also allows the county to simplify and unify all of its employees.

Microsoft spoke with three business decision makers at the county: Richard Sanchez, CIO; Peter Loo, chief deputy CIO; and Captain Paul Drake of the Sheriff’s Department. Each emphasized the fact that the county is made up of more than 30 federated departments, each of which had to agree to adopt Office 365 on its own.

All departments – even the ones that couldn’t afford upgrades – are now getting the same access to the tools. Offices with tight budgets, such as the Department of Children and Family Services, will now spend less time worrying about technology and more time working on cases and directly with families; saving even just five minutes per case can exponentially increases the agency’s capacity to take on and resolve more cases and ultimately serve more county constituents. The technology will also create opportunities for each department to develop solutions specific to their own needs and leverage solutions created by other departments.

The county is thrilled to see what employees generate. “We’re going to set them free, and see what they come up with,” said Sanchez.

Here’s a look at Los Angeles County departments and team.

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Rich Sanchez: “This is an investment in our future. That’s the beauty of the technology and of Microsoft, we know the tool won’t go away and we will continually get updates as the software develops. That’s huge for our departments, nobody will have to invest in technology that may be out-of-date within a year.”

Rich Sanchez in the Office of the CIO, World Trade Center in Los Angeles.

Rich Sanchez: “This is an investment in our future. That’s the beauty of the technology and of Microsoft, we know the tool won’t go away and we will continually get updates as the software develops. That’s huge for our departments, nobody will have to invest in technology that may be out-of-date within a year.”

Rich Sanchez: “The mission of the Los Angeles County Fire Department is to protect lives, the environment and property by providing prompt, skillful and cost-effective fire protection and life safety services. This new technology solution will give the department access to the most up-to-date software, so firefighters can focus their energy on serving their mission and protecting our county constituents.”

Los Angeles County Fire Department trucks. In 2013, the L.A. County Fire Department responded to a total of 329,119 incidents.

Rich Sanchez: “The mission of the Los Angeles County Fire Department is to protect lives, the environment and property by providing prompt, skillful and cost-effective fire protection and life safety services. This new technology solution will give the department access to the most up-to-date software, so firefighters can focus their energy on serving their mission and protecting our county constituents.”

Peter Loo: “Office 365 will allow our mobile workforce, like our social workers, district attorneys, assessors, field investigators, animal control and coroners to be more mobile. Office 365 will enable our law enforcement officers, public health inspectors, social workers and others to securely access information on multiple devices anytime, anywhere. This flexibility will dramatically increase productivity for the county and provide a technically secure environment for our employees to collaborate and share information.”

Peter Loo outside the County of Los Angeles Office of the CIO, World Trade Center in Los Angeles.

June 17, 2014

Peter Loo: “Office 365 will allow our mobile workforce, like our social workers, district attorneys, assessors, field investigators, animal control and coroners to be more mobile. Office 365 will enable our law enforcement officers, public health inspectors, social workers and others to securely access information on multiple devices anytime, anywhere. This flexibility will dramatically increase productivity for the county and provide a technically secure environment for our employees to collaborate and share information.”

Peter Loo: “We’re now giving all employees the appropriate tools to do their jobs. Increasingly, professionals coming into the county workforce expect to use the types of tools and resources that Office 365 provides to improve employee productivity and collaboration. Providing these tools will also help with employee retention for the long term.”

USC Medical Center and Teaching Hospital, Los Angeles. L.A. County is the second-largest municipal health system in the nation. In 2013, more than 820,000 residents received healthcare in L.A. County hospitals and clinics.

Peter Loo: “We’re now giving all employees the appropriate tools to do their jobs. Increasingly, professionals coming into the county workforce expect to use the types of tools and resources that Office 365 provides to improve employee productivity and collaboration. Providing these tools will also help with employee retention for the long term.”

Captain Drake: “Cost savings was huge in our decision-making process. At the time of the decision, we were in the process of evaluating hardware solutions to upgrade our own servers, but with Office 365 we can cut out that capital expense cost completely and have the most up-to-date software. Once Microsoft established CJIS compliance, this was really a no brainer.”

Captain Drake working at his office in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Captain Drake: “Cost savings was huge in our decision-making process. At the time of the decision, we were in the process of evaluating hardware solutions to upgrade our own servers, but with Office 365 we can cut out that capital expense cost completely and have the most up-to-date software. Once Microsoft established CJIS compliance, this was really a no brainer.”

Captain Drake: “The Sheriff’s department is the hub of all law enforcement here at L.A. County. Out of all the departments, we need to be the most secure with our data. With this secure software, our employees can easily share important documents with one another and outside the agency knowing that information is secure.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s vehicle. In 2013, 9,500 sheriff deputies and 4,000 civilian volunteers patrolled L.A. County.

Captain Drake: “The Sheriff’s department is the hub of all law enforcement here at L.A. County. Out of all the departments, we need to be the most secure with our data. With this secure software, our employees can easily share important documents with one another and outside the agency knowing that information is secure.”

For more, check out the press release.

Microsoft News Center Staff