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City of Clarksville goes Google, chooses G Suite for workplace apps

City of Clarksville reaches for the power of the Cloud to improve productivity, reduce costs

City of Clarksville - Clarksville, TNClarksville, TN – Clarksville Government is going Google with a new set of tools that will help employees work together more efficiently and deliver better service to residents.

Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan announced today that the City of Clarksville has chosen G Suite for Government as its provider of a comprehensive package of productivity applications that includes email, documents, calendaring and scheduling, instant messaging, video sharing and conferencing, and unlimited cloud-based data storage.

Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan and Maura Sullivan, chief operating officer for the City of Chattanooga, conduct a live video chat, or “Hangout,” to demonstrate some one of the capabilities of G Suite. The City of Clarksville announced Tuesday that it had “gone Google’ and chosen G Suite to provide of a comprehensive package of workplace productivity applications. Sullivan said Chattanooga started using G Suite a year ago and has been pleased with the results.
Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan and Maura Sullivan, chief operating officer for the City of Chattanooga, conduct a live video chat, or “Hangout,” to demonstrate some one of the capabilities of G Suite. The City of Clarksville announced Tuesday that it had “gone Google’ and chosen G Suite to provide of a comprehensive package of workplace productivity applications. Sullivan said Chattanooga started using G Suite a year ago and has been pleased with the results.

“Our community welcomed a Google Data Center to our mega-site last year, and now we’re excited to deepen our relationship with Google and turn to G Suite as our workplace technology provider,” Mayor McMillan said. “G Suite’s set of Cloud-based collaboration tools will help our government run smarter and provide better services for our citizens.”

G Suite, which had been known as Google Apps until a recent rebranding, is a Cloud and web-based solution that was chosen for its ease of use, lower cost structure and powerful set of applications.

“G Suite is a set of intelligent apps—Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Hangouts, and more—designed to bring people together, with real-time collaboration built in from the start,” Kelly Campbell, senior director of G Suite Marketing, said in a blog announcing the new name. “And, there’s a lot more on the way. We believe that when organizations break down silos, connect people and empower them to work together, we get the speed, agility and impact needed to compete in today’s market.”

Mayor McMillan said G Suite and the City have worked out a strong long-term service agreement that will reduce costs for the City and its taxpayers.

Amie Wilson, Clarksville Director of Information Technology, said Going Google on a large scale has many benefits for City employees and ultimately, City residents. “We’re moving full-speed ahead to convert all City departments to the G Suite platform,” Wilson said. “It’s a smart, secure, and proven infrastructure that will improve productivity and efficiency. That’s a combination of advantages that’s hard to beat.”

First, because G Suite is enabled by Google Cloud, it reduces the City’s configuration of servers, which today require extensive upkeep, upgrades and patches. G Suite also offers an extensive set of applications in a single bundle, enabling savings on software licenses, and reducing frequent software upgrades and retraining.

Second, G Suite is user-friendly and flexible. It is web-based, meaning its features can be accessed via the Internet with any device with a web browser. This captures the power of the BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device) trend, expanding staff efficiency by allowing productivity at any time, at any place and on multiple devices, especially smartphones.

Third, G Suite offers additional functionality, with applications like Hangouts, Docs, Mobile Device Management, and Instant Messaging that will redefine how teams collaborate to deliver services to citizens.

Hangouts is an online video meetings service that allows up to 25 people to connect from their laptop, tablet, phone, or conference room unit. Hangouts includes screen sharing, voice calling and instant messaging for quick conversations.

With Google Docs, employees can collaborate on documents in real time from separate locations, so teams can work on the same document at the same time and complete projects faster.

So, in a likely workplace example, staff at City Hall could connect using video, voice and interactive documents with a second group at Street Department offices two miles away and a third group miles away at a worksite in North Clarksville to resolve a roadwork problem.

Fourth, Google’s state-of-the-art Data Centers — like the one being built here in Clarksville – enable G Suite’s Cloud-based architecture and increases data security and privacy. This will help the City of Clarksville meet the most demanding government data security requirements, including compliance with HIPAA. It will also protect against cyber crime and natural disasters with Google security protocols, including double encryption and replication of data.

Clarksville joins a growing list of large cities going Google, including Boston, Los Angles, St. Louis, and nearby Chattanooga in Tennessee, plus the states of Colorado, Maryland, Wyoming and Utah who have moved to the G Suite platform.

“G-Suite is at the center of our drive to leverage technology and innovation in every aspect of City government,” Mayor McMillan said. “I’m sure G Suite will also open a new era in the City’s ability to engage and connect with constituents.”

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