UK Government signs deal with software firm Salesforce

A one-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) with technology firm Salesforce.

According to the CCS, this agreement will result in the UK public sector being able to improve the roll-out of digital public services and save money.

All eligible customers in the public sector will benefit from a range of Salesforce discounts which will continue until at least the 1st of August 2023. Alongside financial offers, public sector bodies can also work on Salesforce pilot projects at no extra cost, giving these organizations new abilities to learn how to use Salesforce products.

As the UK government continues its efforts to reach Net Zero, Salesforce will be including a reduced-price trial to Salesforce’s Net Zero Cloud. Some experts have raised concerns in the past about the over reliance on major US technology firms by UK public sector bodies with these MoUs expected to go some way to level the playing field and ensure that a mix of tech firms supply the UK public sector.

According to Philip Orumwense CBE, Commercial Director and Chief Technology Procurement Officer at CCS, this agreement will ensure that best in breed solutions are available to the public sector at a cost-effective price.

“The Agreement will further ensure increased collaboration and aggregation of government and wider public sector spend to achieve increased automation, forecasting, reporting and customer engagement management tools,” adds Orumwense.

This agreement with Salesforce is just one of many the CCS has signed in recent years with technology firms such as Microsoft and Google. The Mulesoft automation platform, Tableau analytics and the Slack tool will be included through the Salesforce deal.