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Federal Agencies Could Save Billions by Switching to the Cloud

RightNow (Businesswire) - 13 April 2010

Federal Agencies Could Save Billions by Switching to the Cloud

RightNow ?Safe Switch? Helps Federal Government Meet Stringent Certification and Accreditation to Move into RightNow?s Secure Cloud Today

RightNow logoWASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Willard Hotel ? RightNow (NASDAQ: RNOW), the leading provider of secure cloud solutions for the federal government, today announced that government agencies can easily meet stringent government certification and accreditations (C&A) standards, while saving billions by moving to a secure, government only cloud with RightNow?s Safe Switch program.

?Defense- and Government-Ready: RightNow is the only vendor to launch a defense and government-ready SaaS product set that adheres to the stringent security and compliance requirements as set out by the various U.S. government regulating bodies.?

According to MeriTalk?s 2009 study DIY Federal IT Bailout: Finding Funds, federal government could save an estimated $6.6 billion with the implementation of cloud computing or software-as-a-service. The 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.?

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

RightNow ?Safe Switch? Helps Agencies Transition to a Secure Cloud Today

RightNow?s Safe Switch program gives agencies what they need to move to the cloud immediately: it meets stringent security requirements, provides high levels of application control, eliminates shelfware, and guarantees fast deployments and price matching.

RightNow Safe Switch packages RightNow?s secure government cloud offering and innovative business engagement model for the Federal Government to include:

A Secure Certified and Accredited Cloud on Day One , No Extra Charge? According to Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, ?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:

  • US Federal security FISMA compliant
  • Staffed 7x24x365 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 certification and accreditation (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, and HIPPA compliant

Safer Switching ? RightNow Safe Switch allows agencies to take the risk out of quickly moving to the cloud with:

  • Rapid Deployment at a Fixed Price? 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.

Agency-Friendly Business Engagements ? RightNow Safe Switch frees agencies from the constraints of typical software agreements with:

  • Annual Usage Alignment Up or Down ? RightNow puts an end to shelfware, allowing agencies to rebalance usage up or down annually to meet their needs.
  • Annual Pools of Capacity ? RightNow 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.
  • Cash Service Level Credits / Performance-Based Contracts ? 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.

Cloud Deployment with Flexibility ? RightNow Safe Switch provides agencies with unprecedented deployment and operational flexibility, including:

  • No Forced Upgrades ? Unlike other cloud vendors, RightNow?s Secure Government Cloud is multi-tenant and multi-version, which enables compliance with government upgrade requirements for agencies to upgrade on their own schedule, not on the vendor?s.

Comments on RightNow Safe Switch

"Defense- and Government-Ready: RightNow is the only vendor to launch a defense and government-ready SaaS product set that adheres to the stringent security and compliance requirements as set out by the various U.S. government regulating bodies."

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?RightNow is assisting agencies currently running on-premise, stove-piped legacy applications to seamlessly transition into a modern C&A complaint cloud environment. 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.?
Greg Gianforte, chief executive officer, RightNow

?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. 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.?
Laef Olson, chief information officer, RightNow

Read more about how Federal and Department of Defense agencies like Defense Media Activity and GSA are live in the RightNow Secure Government Cloud today.

Community

Learn more at www.rightnow.com/safeswitch
Follow RightNow Government on twitter at @RightNowGov
Participate in the Safe Switch conversation on twitter #RNOWSafe

About RightNow

RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer interaction at a time, seven million times a day. RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, helps organizations deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centers, all delivered via the cloud. With more than eight billion customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience fabric for nearly 2000 organizations around the globe. To learn more about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com.

RightNow is a registered trademark of RightNow Technologies, Inc. NASDAQ is a registered trademark of the NASDAQ Stock Market.

Contacts

RightNow
Chaundera Wolfe
406-556-3323
406-548-4892
cwolfe@rightnow.com
or
Horn Group for RightNow
Amy Grady
650-468-4724
agrady@horngroup.com

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