RightNow's New SafeSwitch Program Helps Governments (And Taxpayers) Save Money

The Obama Administration has made it clear that it wants to "do more with less" i.e. maintaining and developing federal programs at lower total costs. Cloud computing is one such solution to government needs as it greatly reduces capital and it shrinks  IT expenses while offering flexibility and scalability along with business continuity.

With excellent timing: the eve of the April 15 tax filing deadline, Right Now Technologies says government agencies can easily meet stringent government certification and accreditation (C&A) standards, while saving billions by moving to a secure, government only cloud with RightNow's Safe Switch program.

RightNow cites MeriTalk's 2009 study DIY Federal IT Bailout: Finding Funds which points out that the federal government could save an estimated $6.6 billion with cloud computing a.k.a. software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)). A recent Brookings Governance Study, "Saving Money through Cloud Computing," also found that, "agencies generally saw between 25 and 50 percent savings in moving to the cloud. For the federal government as a whole, this translates into billions in cost savings."

Adds Brookings: "With the number of federal data centers having skyrocketed from 493 to 1,200 over the past decade (Federal Communications Commission, 2010), it is time to more seriously consider whether money can be saved through greater reliance on cloud computing."

Safe Switch program helps federal agencies seamlessly transition to RightNow's Secure Government Cloud to improve operational efficiency, be C&A compliant and reaps the cost savings of secure, mission-critical cloud solutions. The program is based on RightNow's work with more than 170 government clients already implemented in the cloud.

RightNow Safe Switch packages RightNow's secure government cloud offering and innovative business engagement model for the federal government to include a secure C&A cloud on day one at no extra charge. The firm cites Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, who said: "Department of State spent $133 million amassing...security documentation for about 150 major information technology systems."

RightNow's Secure Government Cloud includes comprehensive C&A and is a dedicated U.S. government-only cloud that is:

--U.S. Federal security FISMA compliant
--Staffed 7/24/365 by cleared personnel for security, operations, and customer care
--A multi-tenant cloud environment that meets the NIST 800-53 FIPS 199 moderate requirements for agencies that require this higher level of C&A
--Equipped, for federal agencies with complete NIST C&A artifacts (Infrastructure SSP, Applications SSP, SAR, Risk Assessment Report and POA&M) DIACAP certified for DoD organizations that must run on the NIPRNET
--SAS70 Type II, PCI (News - Alert), and HIPAA compliant

RightNow says its RightNow Safe Switch allows agencies to take the risk out of quickly moving to the cloud with:

--Rapid deployment at a fixed price. This migrates existing on-premise applications to the RightNow Secure Government Cloud with an average "go live" of less than 90 days. RightNow will agree to fixed-price milestone based contracts and with no payment required until each milestone is met to the agency's satisfaction.
--Price matching. RightNow will match an agency's existing on-premise solution maintenance fees for the first year so agencies can switch to the cloud within their current budgets and realize IT infrastructure cost savings in year one. RightNow also provides guaranteed pricing for the five years following.

RightNow Safe Switch frees agencies from the constraints of typical software agreements with annual usage alignments, up or down. It also puts an end to "shelfware" i.e. purchased but little used (and money wasted) software, allowing agencies to rebalance usage up or down annually to meet their needs. RightNow also provides agencies with an annual pool of usage over a 12-month period. This allows agencies to accommodate seasonality and fluctuations in their operations without having to pay extra for spikes. And if RightNow falls short of the service levels guaranteed in a client's customer care package, it will refund a percentage of the client's subscription fees.

Moreover, RightNow Safe Switch provides agencies with unprecedented deployment and operational flexibility. For example, unlike other cloud vendors, RightNow's Secure Government Cloud is multi-tenant and multi-version. This enables compliance with government upgrade requirements for agencies to upgrade on their own schedule, not on the vendors.'

"RightNow is assisting agencies currently running on-premise, stove-piped legacy applications to seamlessly transition into a modern C&A complaint cloud environment," says Greg Gianforte (News - Alert), chief executive officer, RightNow. "RightNow with the Safe Switch program is the only vendor that can help agencies leverage secure solutions to improve constituent's web, contact center, and social experiences in a government cloud today."

"Government agencies are seeing the innovation and ROI benefits of moving to the cloud, but have very real concerns about meeting their important security requirements," adds Laef Olson, chief information officer, RightNow. "RightNow follows the same NIST and DIACAP security standards and frameworks that an agency would use to secure their systems; within our organization, we utilize best in class technology and processes to ensure our customers have confidence in our mission critical cloud computing environment. We take our obligation to provide a comprehensive risk management service very seriously."