Washington State Department of Labor & Industries drives cultural shift and achieves measurable cost savings with Microsoft Azure | Microsoft Customer Stories
Public organizations face rising costs and cultural barriers when modernizing IT. This customer story highlights how the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries achieved cost savings and a cultural shift by moving VMware workloads to Azure. Read the story for real-world insights into how Azure VMware Solution accelerates modernization while reducing risk. Contact Brightside IT to explore how you can achieve similar results.
What motivated L&I to migrate to Microsoft Azure?
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) aimed to modernize its aging technical ecosystem, which was largely composed of on-premises datacenters. The agency recognized the need to improve efficiency, enhance cybersecurity, and better serve the 3.3 million workers it oversees. Additionally, the Washington State legislature encouraged state agencies to adopt cloud services, prompting L&I to collaborate with Microsoft on a 'move and modernize' strategy.
How long did the migration to Azure take?
L&I completed its migration to Microsoft Azure in just nine months. The agency established a phased cloud migration roadmap that allowed for incremental moves of entire server environments without disrupting daily operations, ultimately transitioning more than 300 servers to the Azure cloud platform.
What benefits has L&I experienced from the migration?
Since migrating to Azure, L&I has realized several benefits, including measurable cost savings on operational expenses, improved predictability for long-term computing needs, and enhanced infrastructure stability. The agency also anticipates a reduction in carbon emissions, contributing to Washington State's sustainability initiatives, and has fostered a more inclusive and collaborative workplace culture among its IT staff.

Washington State Department of Labor & Industries drives cultural shift and achieves measurable cost savings with Microsoft Azure | Microsoft Customer Stories
published by Brightside IT
At Brightside IT, we combine the power of technology with personalized human interaction to provide effective and personable solutions. Our range of services includes IT support to minimize downtime, hardware upgrades for optimal performance, server migrations to the cloud, security reviews, IT hardware provision, and application development. With a goal to help small and medium businesses succeed, we ensure reliable IT procurement, infrastructure, networks, and security solutions, empowering clients to thrive in today's digital landscape.