Worldwide, courts are contending with growing pressures that threaten to bog down judicial processes and erode trust in the judiciary. Antiquated case management systems, critical data stuck in silos, and public demand for digital means of participating in justice contribute to the urgency to find new solutions that are cost-effective and adequately cyber-secure.

Innovative courts are already busy modernizing systems and taking early steps with generative AI technologies. At Microsoft for government, we help courts and judicial organizations maintain trust within their communities through solutions that transform operations and help to increase fairness, accountability, and transparency. Let’s have a look at some important benefits of court modernization, including a new way for courts to experiment with AI innovation in a safe and productive fashion.

Better access to justice in 3 key areas

The adoption of cloud technologies typically has an almost immediate impact in terms of power, scalability, and flexibility. Modernizing tools and systems can further deliver new capabilities that help improve access to justice. Among these:

1. Streamline court operations

Courts function better with a more empowered workforce, and modernization makes it possible to quickly realize significant gains in efficiency. For example, by simply adopting Microsoft 365 copilot, 70% of users surveyed across industries reported being more productive and able to focus more on high-value activities and creative work.¹

Even greater benefits are gained by cloud solutions that bring together vast stores of data. Courts are often supported by aging legacy systems that hold data in disconnected silos, making it difficult, if not impossible, to integrate it all. For example, the Orange County Superior Court (OCSC) managed three disparate case management systems (containing more than 70 million paper files), which created serious inefficiencies. So, they integrated it all into a single data warehouse on Microsoft Azure, and realized new benefits in decision making and improved operational efficiency, as well as setting the stage for greater innovation.

Case management systems are especially being transformed by modernization. Courts are moving away from expensive, limited legacy systems to modern solutions that speed up case processing, help judges access necessary information faster, and even increase the capacity of caseloads. Cloud-based case management systems can also fundamentally change how people interact with courts. For example, the Alabama Appellate Courts System developed a hybrid cloud solution that allowed 6,000 Alabama licensed lawyers to access information and file motions with no need to physically travel to any of its three courts.

2. Improve everyday access to justice

Trust in the court is central to justice, but for many people, the cost and friction involved in legal proceedings is high and the results are not always satisfactory. Modernization can help ease the burden with new services and capabilities that are user friendly and engage the public.

Remote access to court proceedings is a profound benefit of modernization, making it faster, easier, and less expensive for people to participate. Widely adopted during the pandemic, remote hearings with Microsoft Teams are now being enhanced with generative AI features that can do things like generate unofficial transcripts or session recaps.

The Teams experience can also be expanded to provide additional services. For example, the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1) in Brazil improved access to the court with a new Virtual Support Desk—an integrated online service platform within Teams that offers easy access to important judicial services for people across Brazil. It also provides a personalized work hub for court service agents, giving them access to real-time engagement analytics, proactive notifications, and service governance indicators.

Modernization is also helping people to better navigate the legal system. Easy to use digital tools can provide guidance in legal processes, assist with document preparation, and help find important resources. Virtual assistants and chatbots can help people understand legal terms, access case information, and represent themselves in litigation in areas such as family law. Translation and transcription capabilities can also be included to make these services even more accessible.

3. Enhanced experiences through new services

Innovation with generative AI and advanced cloud services is still evolving for courts, but the early benefits give us a glimpse of how significantly courts will be transformed in the months and years to come.

Many of the benefits listed above will accelerate dramatically as more courts invest in modernization. For individuals, AI-enabled online portals and mobile applications will provide easier access to case information, explain options, and answer questions about legal processes—providing support that even court staff cannot always offer due to legal restrictions.

For judges and court staff, modernization promises faster processing of cases, with solutions that speed up administrative tasks, reduce delays caused by paperwork errors, and improve the filing of legal documents. AI can automate the extraction, categorization, and organization of information from documents such as invoices, contracts, and emails.

Generative AI is increasingly also being integrated into legal workflows to automate tasks like tagging and classification. This promises to advance a key industry initiative called SALI (Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry, in which Microsoft is a participant), that is creating a standardized way to define and document legal matters. By automating tagging and classification of documents (commonly done by hand), AI can help SALI achieve its mission to benefit legal professionals and their clients by fostering innovation and efficiency in legal workflows.

A low risk way to explore AI innovation in the court

Many courts are understandably cautious about involving their critical data and systems in innovation with new technology such as AI. That’s why Microsoft endorses an important new initiative called the AI Sandbox, by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC).

The AI Sandbox helps leaders in judicial organizations explore generative AI and learn how it can improve productivity, efficiency, and citizen service. Designed to serve the needs of courts across geographies, the AI Sandbox lets judges and court staff experiment with generative AI in a secure private cloud environment built on Azure. It supports the development of use cases such as drafting court orders, creating job descriptions, providing legal information, and much more. Best of all, it’s easy to use via the NSCS portal (no travel required).

To get started, visit the NCSC AI sandbox website.

Advancing your modernization journey

Whether it’s the AI Sandbox or early experimentation with Microsoft 365 Copilot, the path to modernization is unique for every court. There are some fundamental elements that every organization will eventually need in order to realize the complete benefits of AI:

• A cloud platform like Azure delivers proven scalability, security, and compliance.
• A data and AI platform like Microsoft Fabric provides a common way to reason over your data.
• A development platform like Azure AI Foundry lets you build world-class AI-native applications.

Improving access to justice through technology is a long-term journey, but one that delivers benefits early and often. It’s important to define your goals, take a strategic approach, and choose a technology partner who will be with you every step of the way.

Learn more

To see how Microsoft is empowering court systems to be more agile, secure, and accessible for all, watch our video. To learn more about how we can help in your court’s modernization journey, visit our website or get in touch with your Microsoft sales representative or technology partner.

¹Microsoft Work Trend Index Special Report.

The post 3 ways to improve access to justice through court modernization appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

As fate would have it, this is the first day out of training for the responding officer. Adrenaline pumping, his thoughts race even faster than his patrol car through traffic: What is my best route? What do I know about the situation? How should I approach and respond? Making matters even more challenging, this is also the first day out of training for the dispatcher responsible for guiding him, who is herself new to the department and its systems.  

Will this situation end in a peaceful resolution? 

Fortunately, this scenario is only hypothetical—one of many that we at the Microsoft for Public Safety and Justice team think about as we work with police organizations and emergency response agencies around the world. These organizations are focused on evaluating how technology, including AI, can help empower their teams, improve operations, and safeguard their communities. As a longtime police officer myself, I share their hopes and their frustrations with regard to technology, which has too often promised more than it has delivered in the service of public safety.  

What is now clear, with the advent of AI in government, is that we are at an inflection point where technology can empower police and first responders in new ways, better protecting communities as well as the officers who serve them. At IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police) 2023—a global law enforcement event—we demonstrated “AI in public safety” solutions that we, in collaboration with our partners, have built to help law enforcement officers meet their desired outcomes.  

Now, let’s consider how a domestic violence call response might be supported by innovative new technologies, across every phase of the incident.  

From dispatch to first response

If our hypothetical call had happened 10 or 15 years ago, our rookie officer would have operated under a set of relatively disadvantageous conditions. For one, he would have communicated with his department through either a simple Mobile Data Terminal (MDT)—essentially a basic computer in the cruiser—or a bulky radio on his duty belt. He might have also used a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) tool, a notepad, even a record management system. None of these tools worked especially well together. His other source of dynamic information was his dispatcher, who relied on their department’s various IT systems and data sources to provide guidance and insights.  

The disconnected nature of these elements placed an enormous cognitive load on the officer. Given the intensity of the circumstances, the costs of stitching together the technology at hand may have simply been too onerous for him to employ it all seamlessly. And our dispatcher would likewise not be better off, working with sets of limited, disparate data. It’s not a stretch to say that our officer is walking nearly blind into a dangerous situation.  

Contrast that to the possibilities that are enabled by the capabilities of AI and a modern data estate. Our officer approaches the scene with a set of urgent concerns on his mind: Is there a history of violence in the family? Where is the most strategic place to park my cruiser away from the residence? The fact is the department has the answers—technically—to these and other important questions. They are embedded across vast data sets across agencies from years of experience. Unfortunately, generating these types of actionable insights at scale is not possible with most existing IT environments and tools. However, because AI excels at deriving and delivering insights based on learned experience and data sets, it’s easy to imagine the dispatcher providing real-time guidance and actionable insights to the officer in motion and delivering ongoing responses to unanticipated circumstances. 

Real-time situational awareness  

Now imagine that our hypothetical call turns into an entirely different and significantly more severe type of event. Additional officers and multiple agencies, including Fire and emergency medical service (EMS), are called to the scene. The field expands from a single residence to an entire neighborhood. The chain of command shifts accordingly. In prior years, this sort of escalation might have become chaotic, with changing leadership and resources spread simultaneously across jurisdictions.  

In modern scenarios, however, the likelihood of safest possible outcomes goes up with new cloud-based technologies and new capabilities. Setting up real-time communications and collaboration across groups becomes easier. And new devices, particularly drones, enable new kinds of visibility, augmented by real-time asset location mapping, video monitoring, and overall situational awareness. The bottom-line goal is to enable operational oversight and enhance cross-agency communications for a safe, coordinated first responder strategy. 

One critical aspect here is to ensure resilient and comprehensive command and control—in other words, deploying the devices and systems that provide proper internet and cloud access. Connectivity is easy in a training simulation; it’s a bit more of a challenge when an officer chases a suspect into an underground parking garage. Microsoft works with an ecosystem of technology partners who provide highly reliable command and control solutions that incorporate satellite, cellular, intelligent mesh networks, and more. Together, they ensure near constant connectivity in almost any location or circumstance, including austere environments and natural disaster zones. Moreover, they provide “edge” computing capabilities that do much of the AI work on-scene, close to the action and devices, which reduces latency and makes real-time computing possible when it might otherwise not be feasible. 

Beyond incident resolution

After the incident is resolved, the work is only just beginning for our hypothetical first-day officer. He can expect to spend two to three hours writing reports for every hour he spent dealing with the incident. It is a critical part of the job, especially for legal requirements and criminal proceedings. But it is difficult and time consuming, and it keeps the officer at his desk rather than in the field.  

Then there’s body-cam video, which provides an invaluable record of an officer’s actions, but which also must be transcribed or otherwise processed. One police chief told us that his most capable supervisors spend up to 50 percent of their time transcribing body-cam footage. Others report serious challenges in accurately reviewing and retrieving it.  

These are the types of challenges that generative AI was built to handle. Automatic speech recognition combined with content creation and summarization can provide a foundation of new capabilities that can aid in report writing, video transcription, information gathering, and large language model learning—in ways that ensure reliable digital evidence and retrieval. Moreover, AI can perform sentiment analysis on body-cam video in ways that can identify officer behaviors that may signal stress or other issues.  

These capabilities not only improve officer effectiveness and safety, they also position governments to better assess the impact of law enforcement on their communities, and to hold police accountable when they need to be. 

See how Microsoft can help

From national law enforcement agencies to municipal police departments, Microsoft is empowering law enforcement around the world with a suite of secure services that help teams make better data-informed decisions and deliver trusted outcomes that increase safety, accountability, and transparency within communities. For police officers and emergency responders, the goal is to free up time and energy to focus on constituents and communities, with technology providing invaluable assistance. 

The Microsoft Public Safety and Justice team is composed of veterans from law enforcement, military, and related backgrounds, and for us, the opportunity to help customers employ technology to protect communities and officers alike is a way to give back to law enforcement.  

At IACP 2023, we shared more information about “AI in public safety” and how our solutions help law enforcement officers around the world. We also invite you to contact us through your Microsoft representative or technology solution provider. We hope to journey with you to make your law enforcement operations, your mission, and your outcomes better through Microsoft Public Safety and Justice technology.  

Microsoft for Public Safety and Justice

Empowering agencies. Improving operations. Protecting communities.

Discover more

The post Upgrade law enforcement response with AI solutions from Microsoft appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

• Has the physical controls required by Section 5.9 of the Policy.
• Its data centers are considered “physically secure locations” as defined in Section 5.9.1 of the Policy.
• Is operated by United States persons who have been screened in accordance with Section 5.12 of the Policy, completed Level 4 CJIS security awareness training, and signed the CJIS Security Addendum.
• Restricts the storage of Criminal Justice Information to the United States as required by Section 5.10.1.5 of the Policy.

Microsoft backs Azure Government with CJIS Management Agreements executed with state CJIS Systems Agencies so that all criminal justice agencies in a state can use Azure Government while respecting their compliance obligations under the CJIS Security Policy. Azure Government conformance with the CJIS Security Policy has been validated by the countless agencies using it having passed CJIS audits since 2014.

Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)

Learn more about how Azure Commercial and Azure Government support Criminal Justice Information.

Read more

Manage Criminal Justice Information in Azure Commercial

On October 1, 2022, the FBI released CJIS Security Policy Version 5.9.1, and among its updates, the FBI enables criminal justice agencies to meet the requirements of the policy through technical controls alone, rather than through technical controls and screened personnel. In accordance with this updated policy, Microsoft announces the addition of Azure to our cloud platforms available for Criminal Justice Information. Microsoft customers can manage Criminal Justice Information in Azure and facilitate their compliance with the CJIS Security Policy v5.9.1 by first geo-restricting storage of Criminal Justice Information to the member countries of the CJIS Advisory Policy Board (United States, United States territories, Indian tribes, and Canada). For infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) workloads, customers can implement customer managed key (CMK) encryption through Azure Key Vault, a generally available and widely adopted option used today by many security-focused customers.

In addition to this new Azure option, Microsoft will continue its long-standing commitment to protecting Criminal Justice Information in Azure Government, which United States criminal justice agencies have used since 2014. A fundamental principle for using the cloud is an understanding of the shared responsibility model. An organization that manages a completely on-premises computing infrastructure has full responsibility for its security and compliance. Organizations leveraging cloud services share this responsibility with their cloud provider but are still accountable to the appropriate regulators. Criminal justice agencies must determine whether Azure Government or Azure Commercial is the appropriate cloud platform for their needs and should consult their state’s CJIS Systems Officer for questions on compliance in the cloud.

Choose the appropriate cloud platform for Criminal Justice Information

The Microsoft mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Criminal justice agencies manage especially sensitive data, and those in the United States can now choose between Azure Government with its proven combination of technical and personnel controls, and Azure Commercial with technical controls in accordance with CIJS Security Policy v5.9.1—only Microsoft can provide this kind of choice across the United States. Microsoft led the way for compliant use of the cloud by United States criminal justice agencies and with the release of CJIS Security Policy v5.9.1 continues this leadership.

United States criminal justice agencies can work with their Microsoft account teams to assess requirements and determine the appropriate cloud platform for managing their Criminal Justice Information.

Learn more

You can learn more about how Azure Commercial and Azure Government support Criminal Justice Information by visiting the Criminal Justice Information Services documentation page. Interested in discovering more Microsoft solutions for Public Safety and Justice? Visit our website to learn more.

The post Microsoft delivers Azure Commercial offering for Criminal Justice Information appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

While navigating our way through COVID-19, courts were forced to dramatically change their well-versed practices to meet the ever-changing landscape. The courtroom has evolved from a pure physical domain to a hybrid of in-person and remote parties. Having an accessible, secure, and single source of truth, available through an integrated technology platform has never been more essential. As technical issues were solved and courtroom participants gained comfort with their new normal, hybrid courtrooms have become widely accepted and the norm and will continue to remain in some form. 

A changing landscape 

The continually evolving court landscape poses new and unique challenges for the judiciary and the public, demanding a great shift in court operations and administration.

• How do we ensure that all parties have fair, impartial, and timely proceedings, regardless of their location?
• How do we seamlessly integrate the various legacy systems across agencies, securely?
• What analytical insights can we arm court administration with to navigate the historical backlog challenges?
• Is this the time to build interoperability in the court system? 

And it is not simply COVID-19 that is driving change. In recent decades, growing case volumes and costs, along with tightening resource constraints, have prompted courts to seek technologies that facilitate more efficient justice administration while reducing costs. That has led to a smaller number of central court hubs. More courtrooms necessarily imply greater travel and logistical costs for courts staff, judges, police and other agencies, and parties. That makes a hybrid approach to justice almost inevitable. 

Microsoft’s extensive partner ecosystem has been a key component to the success and scalability of various judicial industry solutions. Learn more about modernizing court operations and see the solutions offered by our partners. 

Hybrid courtroom

As court hearings become hybrid, it’s important to identify gaps in the hearing experience that technology can bridge. While hybrid court proceedings may seem straightforward, developing an experience that allows courts to simulate a physical case hearing with minimal technology interaction and distraction is key. Quoting a judge, “Invisible technology is the right technology in the courtroom.” Technology within the courtroom is there to assist the proceeding, not hinder it. What does a truly integrated platform look like? Check out the LACourtConnect Update to see an example of integrated platforms in a hybrid courtroom providing enhancements to the participants experience for remote appearances, including the ability to chat with other participants, monitor courtroom proceedings before the case is called, and more.

Data analytics

Courts across the globe are inundated with growing case backlogs. Traditional methods of analyzing vast amounts of data are tedious and time-consuming. Courts are looking at how they can put AI to work to maximize the use of data and modernize and automate selected processes. Machine learning systems built on Microsoft Azure provide critical analytics to derive actionable insights and intelligible data. With Azure, court employees can use natural language processing, form recognition, speech-to-text transcription, and translation services to index, search, and analyze text, images, PDFs, and audio or video files.   

How do we utilize AI to empower court operations to make better use of data and process cases more efficiently, to regain control of case backlogs? Learn more by downloading, AI-Ready Government: How Orange County Superior Courts Leveraged Data to Transform Operations.

Next steps

At Microsoft, and with our industry partners, we are building a justice management platform to meet these challenges, creating a single source of truth for all those involved in the justice ecosystem backed by the integrity and security Microsoft builds into all our products. Join us as we explore accelerating digital justice transformation in this upcoming blog series. 

Stay up to date on Microsoft’s global approach to public safety and justice by visiting the Microsoft for Public Safety and Justice website. 

The post The new world of court proceedings requires new set of digital tools appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Illegal wildlife trafficking is worth $23 billion per year¹. That makes it the fourth-largest illegal trade in the world, following only drugs, guns, and human trafficking². One of the biggest challenges in protecting endangered wildlife species is that it is a massively unregulated industry. Often this trade goes hand in hand with other organized crimes, including corruption and money laundering.

While Microsoft is engaged in many significant biodiversity projects, Project SEEKER is a first of its kind initiative aimed at using bespoke Microsoft AI to curb the trade. Currently, there are no integrated, multi-species illegal wildlife algorithms on the market.

The project is a Microsoft AI for Good research project developed by a United Kingdom and United States team focused on disrupting the illegal wildlife trafficking trade.

Following a recent trial at London Heathrow airport, Microsoft’s Project SEEKER proved its ability to detect illegal wildlife items concealed in baggage and cargo—capabilities lacking in current airport screening and security systems. 

The SEEKER trial has seen a more than 70 percent success rate detecting ivory products, as well as a range of ground-breaking detection successes for a range of wildlife species. Using the Microsoft Azure Stack Edge, the technology can be integrated into current airport screening infrastructure to detect any species.

SEEKER, when used in conjunction with other Microsoft Technologies like the Project 15 Platform, can build intelligence for global enforcement teams to better see what is being trafficked, where the  wildlife comes from, and where it is going.

Project 15 is a conservation and ecosystem sustainability open platform that brings the latest Microsoft cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to accelerate scientific teams building solutions like species tracking and observation, poaching prevention, ecosystem monitoring, and pollution detection. With a better understanding of criminal tactics and illegal trade patterns, private and public-sector organizations and enforcement agencies can now be able to take informed action against the networks behind the trade.

Project SEEKER technology can be use alongside existing airport screening and security infrastructure. Its AI can scan 3D computed tomography (CT) X-ray baggage images to automatically detect a variety of animal species using specially developed artificial intelligence. This AI can both interpret the characteristics of the object as well as determine the atomic density of items within screened bags.

The technology has been trained on real items seized by United Kingdom border officers, as well as data created using a novel approach to detect threats. The bags containing illegally trafficked wildlife species are compared against thousands of “clear” passenger bags used in model training to ensure precision and recall, resulting in a low rate of false alarms.

Because SEEKER is used as part of the normal security process, it could be used for other trafficked items that contribute to the profits of organized criminals. These could include prohibited items for travel or contraband, such as prohibited foodstuffs.

Because Project SEEKER is built on Microsoft’s global Azure cloud platform, that data can be analysed to build a comprehensive and detailed picture of illegal wildlife trafficking across the world. It has been developed in collaboration with the United Kingdom Border Force’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) team, London Heathrow Airport and its leading screening partner, as well as the Duke of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation.

Recently the Duke of Cambridge visited Microsoft’s United Kingdom headquarters to hear about the potential of this technology as part of his work with The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife program. He is a keen supporter of the development and deployment of this innovative technology.

Team members are now working to build up an initial group of early adopters. This will be critical improving SEEKER’s capabilities in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.

Learn about how we can help reignite the economy and drive financial accountability.

Sources:

¹Wildlife crime: a $23 billion trade that’s destroying our planet—World Economic Forum.

²Is the illegal trade in wildlife the fourth largest in the world?—Full Fact.

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The COVID-19 pandemic forced a seismic shift in how public sector organizations engage with their communities and constituents. Technology played a crucial role in keeping agencies open and able to serve the public—through greater reliance on virtual meetings, more accessible online portals, and AI-based chatbots to help the public find answers to their questions quickly, to list just a few examples. This is true of public safety organizations as well.

Law enforcement agencies have leveraged remote and cloud-enabled tools not only to meet their mission needs during the pandemic, but also to accelerate their digital transformation to better respond to the specific needs of the community. As we look to the future, what lessons can we draw on to build upon these successes, and how can we support the men and women in uniform both on and off duty?

For many years law enforcement agencies have used Microsoft solutions as part of their technology infrastructure. Over time agencies and the solution partners that support them began using Microsoft capabilities in their operational solutions, and in 2014 Microsoft first participated at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference. Our subject matter experts—some of whom are former law enforcement officers themselves—have never taken for granted the need to continually learn from those on the front lines.

Microsoft is currently collaborating with police and justice agencies all over the world, from Western Australia to the United Kingdom to Los Angeles to North Carolina, helping them develop an effective technology roadmap that addresses their most critical challenges. By focusing on the technology that public safety agencies already own, we are committed to developing solutions aimed at driving positive outcomes, whether they come from law enforcement or social service programs.

At this year’s IACP conference, Microsoft is building on this commitment by hosting a thought-leadership session titled “Response and Resilience—Safety and Wellness for All.” This session seeks to promote dialogue on two critical topics:  alternative response models; and officer wellness and resilience. The session will bring together experts to discuss how cloud and analytical tools can help public sector organizations identify the right resources to address certain issues and meet the needs of officers and the communities they serve.

We look forward to helping the IACP shape the future of law enforcement at the 2021 IACP Conference and look forward to seeing you at our session, “Response and Resilience—Safety and Wellness for All”

In future blogs and thought-leadership sessions, we will discuss our thoughts on how to effectively merge advanced technology capabilities with human expertise and processes to help address the most critical challenges facing law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Visit our website to learn more about how Microsoft is helping to transform public safety and justice organizations.

The post Lessons from the pandemic are shaping the future of public safety appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

U.S. state and local governments are transforming how employees collaborate and redefining teamwork with digital innovations that deliver efficiencies and better services to citizens. This transformation is even more impressive considering that cities, counties and states face the same workplace collaboration issues as all organizations, with the added challenge of remaining in compliance with rigorous privacy, security and other regulations enforced by the federal government.

Empowering government collaboration

Here are a few examples of how cloud-based collaboration and communications capabilities are empowering organizations across the nation to modernize, streamline daily work, drive greater efficiency and productivity, and improve citizen services:

• With hurricanes, forest fires and other natural disasters capturing headlines, states need to quickly deal with emergencies that put people, neighborhoods and infrastructure at risk. State agencies working on a recent emergency response used Microsoft Teams for the U.S. Government Community Cloud (GCC) to collaborate, communicate and share updates as the devastation and recovery efforts progressed. The real-time coordination enabled the state’s leadership to make faster, more informed decisions about public safety, determine when evacuated residents could return to their homes and announce disaster recovery efforts.
• Washington’s King County and the State of Illinois are addressing an ongoing trend in government: loss of institutional knowledge. A large portion of Illinois state employees will retire in the next few years and recent research by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence reflects that government retirements are increasing at the same time it’s becoming more difficult to fill key positions. King County and the Land of Lincoln are building knowledge repositories of experienced professionals, documenting best practices and helping a new generation of employees get up to speed quickly through Microsoft Teams. With a complete chat and online meetings solution in place, both entities also are better able to attract and retain new talent that expects modern, user-friendly workplace tools.
• A large city and county committed to inclusivity wanted to ensure its website content could be easily consumed by people with dyslexia, color blindness and other disabilities. By leveraging the latest Office 365 accessibility functionality, these municipalities are demonstrating what it means to be an inclusive government that embraces equality.

Learn more: Oct. 24 virtual event

It’s exciting to see city, county and state government decision-makers using trusted cloud solutions to innovate, achieve their missions and fulfill the expectations of constituents. To learn more, please join the Transform collaboration in government with Microsoft Teams virtual event at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 24. Speakers from King County, the State of Illinois, other governments and Microsoft will share the most recent developments and challenges in workplace collaboration and how to enable more efficient teamwork.

To register for the Oct. 24 virtual event and find additional information, please visit Transform collaboration in government with Microsoft Teams, Oct. 24

Additional resources: 

• Microsoft Teams for the U.S. Government Community Cloud
• Microsoft Teams: Meet the hub for teamwork in Office 365
• Start planning your implementation at https://successwithteams.com to get the most from Teams.

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