Brunei Turns to Microsoft to Build & Support Innovative Citizen-Service Platform

The Government of Brunei Darussalam wanted to more efficiently maintain its critical business systems, while implementing the technology it needed to support its e-government initiative. To gain rapid IT problem resolution and expert deployment guidance, leaders engaged Microsoft Services. Now, the organisation relies on its Premier Mission Critical Support plan to trim IT support costs and extend the value of the Microsoft technologies it uses.

Business Needs
In 2000, the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam consented to establish the e-Government program to facilitate the delivery of online administrative services to internal employees, citizens, and businesses. The e-Government National Centre (EGNC), a department under the Office of the Prime Minister of Brunei, currently manages this ongoing program. Because it lacked sufficient staffing resources, the EGNC has relied on external IT firms to provide maintenance and reactive support services to keep its operational and communications systems up and running.

However, it found that dependence on multiple external IT vendors was often costly and inefficient. It routinely took a day or more to restore critical line-of-business systems and applications. “In light of our shift toward citizen and business-centric online services, we could not afford these kinds of delays,” says Adi Shamsul Hj Sabli, Director of the e-Government National Centre.

The EGNC needed a way to monitor its critical IT assets and accelerate problem resolution when issues occurred. Leaders also wanted to adopt best practices for change management to better track IT projects and ultimately reduce the number of support incidents. In addition, the EGNC sought assistance in implementing the components of its e-government platform, including a web portal for managing interactions with citizens and businesses.

Solution
In late 2010, the EGNC engaged Microsoft Services, the consulting and enterprise support division of Microsoft. The organisation partnered with the Microsoft Services team on a number of strategic project initiatives, such as the creation of citizen portal, and the deployment of a government-wide messaging system. EGNC leaders also recognised that Microsoft Services Premier Support offered a unique opportunity to acquire integrated infrastructure planning and IT support resources—while maximising the value of its existing investment in Microsoft technologies. “When we looked at the scope our IT support and expansion goals, we knew that only Microsoft Services could deliver the depth and range of expertise that we needed end-to-end,” says Adi Shamsul.

Through its Premier Support agreement, the EGNC has access to a combination of preventive maintenance services, solution development and deployment assistance, staff training, and phone-based problem resolution 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To obtain enhanced guidance and support for its vital infrastructure, the EGNC choose an enhanced level of support by including Microsoft Services Premier Mission Critical Support. The Premier Mission Critical offering from Microsoft comprises the maximum and most expeditious support offering available on the market. Through this mission critical service, the EGNC benefits from the expertise of a dedicated Solution Engineer and Premier Field Engineers from Microsoft. It also takes advantage of a guaranteed 30-minute response time with Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on all critical support incidents. The EGNC currently relies on Premier Mission Critical to support the organisation’s use of the Windows Server 2008 operating system and Microsoft SQL Server database management technologies, as well as Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

Infrastructure Assessment
As a first step in helping the EGNC create its e-government solution, the Microsoft Services team conducted a comprehensive risk assessment of the organisation’s core infrastructure investments, including its Active Directory environment. “The Active Directory risk assessment report that Microsoft Services provided was extremely helpful,” says Adi Shamsul. “We received much more than a technical review of our identity management infrastructure; we learned directly from Microsoft engineers about ways to strengthen access controls and minimise network security threats. That level of strategic guidance from the people who know the technology best is invaluable.”

With help from Microsoft Services, the EGNC deployed a citizen portal based on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. The portal provides citizens with a single point of entry for accessing a range of government services through the web.

One-of-a-Kind Training Academy
The EGNC also worked closely with Microsoft Services to develop a mentorship program called the Microsoft IT Academy. Officially launched in June 2011, it is the first of its kind in the region. The academy provides selected EGNC staff members with a year-long internship, which incorporates advanced training opportunities, such as internships in Microsoft technical support facilities, and hands-on mentoring from Microsoft engineering teams, as well as the chance to work alongside Microsoft professionals in managing the organisation’s critical systems. “The opening of the Microsoft IT Academy in Brunei is a major milestone in our efforts to build and sustain the highly skilled IT workforce that we need to build our e-government framework,” says Adi Shamsul.

Benefits
By working with Microsoft Services, the EGNC has experienced the following benefits:

Reduced IT Support Costs, Streamlined Vendor Management
The EGNC now accesses a complete set of integrated support, deployment, and training services through a single provider. As a result, the organisation expects to reap substantial cost savings over time. It already benefits from simpler, more efficient vendor contract management. Also, because the EGNC has access to Microsoft solution expertise, it can extract more value from the Microsoft technologies it currently uses.

Accelerated Adoption of Proactive IT Service Model
By partnering with a Solution Engineer from Microsoft to assess the health of key technologies and build a plan for remediation, problem resolution, and knowledge transfer, the EGNC has rapidly transitioned to a more active IT service model Now, when problems do occur, the ENGC is assured through its Premier Mission Critical Support agreement of the fastest incident response available from Microsoft. “With the peace of mind we get through our Premier Mission Critical Support plan, we can focus on strategic initiatives instead of constantly worrying about troubleshooting the latest problem,” says Adi Shamsul.

Strengthened Foundation for E-Government Initiative
The Microsoft IT Academy provides opportunities for intensive training, enabling the systematic training of EGNC staff over the next several years. “The creation of the Microsoft IT Academy demonstrates the commitment that Microsoft is willing to make to our long-term success,” says Adi Shamsul. “It offers a comprehensive approach to developing in-depth technical skills, which is an essential part of our e-Government vision.”