West Virginia Governor Justice Announced Agreement with Google Cloud
Gov. Justice: State to save projected $11.5 million with transition to Google Workspace
Agreement with Google Cloud will also improve operational effectiveness, innovation, security, and resiliency
CHARLESTON, WV (STL.News) Gov. Jim Justice announced today that the State of West Virginia has reached a multi-year agreement with Google Cloud to transition 22,000 State employees in the Executive Branch to the digital productivity suite Google Workspace at a projected cost-savings of $11.5 million.
Google Workspace is Google Cloud’s cloud-based productivity and collaboration solution which, in addition to saving money, will also drive innovation and provide enhanced IT security, while keeping the State at the forefront of technology advancements.
“This collaboration – West Virginia and Google – is truly going to allow us to serve the people of this state better than ever, and the people should be proud of the fact that we got a great deal and will be saving millions and millions of dollars in the process,” Gov. Justice said. “It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity for us to be able to work with a tech giant like Google. This is another example of how the best of the best companies are seeing all the goodness we’re building in West Virginia and want to be a part of our momentum.”
In addition to cost-savings, Google Workspace’s enterprise-grade collaboration and security capabilities will make it easier for State employees to continue to work remotely and securely during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These include:
- Data Loss Prevention: Data Loss Prevention tools in Google Workspace can detect sensitive data contained within emails, stored files, databases, and images, then redact or remove the information before it’s unintentionally exposed.
- Access Control Policies: Based on the “zero trust” security model pioneered by Google, as well as BeyondCorp technologies, Google Workspace’s context-aware Access Control Policies allow system administrators to create granular access applications based on employee identity, IP address, time of day, and more.
- Advanced video meeting capabilities: Google Meet enables officials to host or join secure video meetings with up to 250 participants, broadcast live streams to as many as 100,000 viewers, and record and save meetings to Google Drive.
“Google Cloud is committed to our partnership with West Virginia, and we look forward to helping them transition to a flexible, secure, and innovative way of working, collaborating, and serving constituents,” said Mike Daniels, vice president, Global Public Sector, Google Cloud. “Google Workspace’s advanced productivity and collaboration tools can help State employees become more efficient and productive in their daily work, while also allowing them to better deliver citizen services.”
Google Cloud’s agreement with the State of West Virginia builds on its growing list of successful Google Workspace collaborations with other State governments, including the State of Arizona, State of Colorado, and State of Wyoming, among others.