Microsoft's new NHS deal 'reduces price to entry' - Bytes director

Microsoft's new NHS deal will make it easier for health organisations to adopt cloud technologies, according to Bytes public sector director Chris Swani.

This week the NHS announced a "landmark deal" which it said would "guarantees significant cost savings for both individual NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole".

The tie-up will see Microsoft 365 deployed to as many as 1.2 million NHS employees, it added.

Bytes' Swani explained that the NHS will have access to "greatly reduced prices" on certain products, available from whichever partner they choose to buy from.

The reductions are predominately for Office 365, Enterprise Mobility and Security, and Windows.

"It is down to individual resellers to service their individual NHS customers, and it's an opportunity for us to provide a great level of advice around what product set is most suitable," he said.

 "They've got till 15 September to buy into it and the agreements are ongoing as long as they sign up to the deal. It will be a lot cheaper.

"Different organisations have different levels [of the products], so some will still be licensed on-premises and some may have taken very basic levels of M365. This allows them to get up to date with a modern workplace."

Microsoft said the partnership expands on a deal from 2018 that saw Windows 10 rolled out across the NHS, which was delivered by Bytes.

Microsoft UK CEO Cindy Rose said: "Microsoft is proud to support the NHS any way we can, especially in these challenging times.

"Since COVID-19, the NHS has rapidly accelerated its adoption of digital tools to enable clinicians and support staff to perform their life-saving work more effectively.

"This agreement ensures NHS organisations across England have access to modern productivity tools and solutions necessary to delivering better patient outcomes now and in the future."

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