Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has launched Government Cloud Plus, a multitenant cloud infrastructure specifically isolated for U.S. federal, state, and local government customers, contractors and federally funded research and development centers, the company announced Thursday.

Teresa Smetzer, vice president of national security programs at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), has said the adoption of artificial intelligence could help government agencies leverage large volumes of data, allow them to free up employees to focus more on mission-critical issues and accelerate the delivery of services to citizens.

Jenny Berarducci, regional vice president of customer success at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), has said a cloud-based tool provides government agencies the capability to improve the customer experience and earn the public’s trust, which is key to any mission. Berarducci wrote about the need for agencies to implement a flexible technology that could enable them to meet current and future needs.

Darryl Peek, senior manager of global government solutions at Salesforce's (NYSE: CRM) public sector, has said agencies seeking to enhance the customer experience and come up with a customer-centric strategy should start with elevating the employee experience. Peek wrote that "organizations must focus on empowering employees — and they can do so by delivering tools that unlock efficiency, increase transparency and strengthen culture on the cloud."

Rob Stein, senior vice president for North America public sector at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), has said the adoption of cloud could help government agencies deliver improved services to citizens and carry out their missions. “Cloud can co-exist with legacy infrastructure to unlock data that resides in back-office systems, deliver it across the enterprise and provide the agility needed to make it highly applicable to just about any mission need,” Stein wrote.

Matt Goodrich, principal solutions engineer at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), has said the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program sets a standardized approach to cloud security in the federal government and its continuous evolution has resulted in agencies starting to realize that the cloud offers better security. Goodrich wrote that agencies now see security as a fundamental part of the development process from the beginning and their level of trust in cloud deployments enables them to quickly develop applications designed to support the needs of employees and citizens.

Casey Coleman, senior vice president of global government solutions at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and a two-time Wash100 award winner, has said agencies should treat citizens as customers, empower employees and build strategic partnerships on the cloud to facilitate the delivery of government services and transform missions. She wrote that treating citizens as customers allows agencies to operate “outside-in” and helps them create a “coalition of yes” or an environment that encourages citizens to be more involved.

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has agreed to buy Vlocity, a San Francisco-based cloud and mobile software provider, for approximately $1.33B. The transaction is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, subject to the waiting period’s expiration under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions, Salesforce said Tuesday.

Enterprise software provider Skuid has partnered with Carahsoft Technology and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) to help three U.S. defense agencies and a large civilian agency update applications. Skuid said Thursday it received four government contracts to support the customers in app development and modernization initiatives.

McLean, Va.-based information technology services contractor Steampunk has appointed industry leaders Max Licht, Joe Nizhnikov, Brandon Feather and Mike Fischer to lead its federal civilian sector and Salesforce practice.