One of Mexico's governmental agencies transitioned to Microsoft's cloud computing services with the aim to improve its services to Mexican taxpayers.

According to Microsoft, Mexico's Tax Administration System (SAT) agency decided use the Redmond company's Azure cloud service. According to SAT, it wanted to use a service that would enable employees to issue and receive electronic documents in a "more secure and reliable manner." SAT also wanted to provide better customer support to taxpayers with the ability to check, cancel or download electronic invoices on their own or by a SAT representative.

"At Microsoft we are proud to be able to provide our technological tools to government institutions, especially when they result in benefits for citizens," said Microsoft Mexico Public Sector and Education Director Carlos Allende.

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"An example of this is Microsoft Azure, which offers external connectivity at least 99.95 percent of the time and allows institutions to run cloud solutions while providing absolute security in the management of processed information. In addition, it provides automatic software updates, network load balancing and high availability," Allende said.

During the 2013 annual tax returns season, a variant of DeclaraSAT was created within Microsoft Azure. The Microsoft cloud computing platform helped increase tax returns by 8.24 percent compared to 2012's figures. SAT noted more than 1.5 million tax return filings were completed since transitioning to Microsoft Azure. Prior to using Microsoft Azure, only 299,300 filings were recorded.

"Since we started using Microsoft Azure services with the SAT, we have processed close to 4 billion documents with the peace of mind that Microsoft Azure helps keep the information secure, which is fundamental for the organization," SAT General Administrator for Communications Juan Manuel Galarza said.

Microsoft Azure has also allowed the SAT to process up to 34 million electronic invoices daily.

Microsoft Azure's presence in Latin America was also echoed in Brazil. Microsoft's Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise Marketing Takeshi Numoto announced the cloud computing service was available for "public view" in southern Brazil on June 5.

"Already, customers such as credit rating company Boa Vista Servicos, business management software provider Totvs, computing systems provider SiplanControl-M and e-commerce website platform Shop Delivery are benefiting from the power of the cloud. Along with our other customers in the region, they will also benefit from increased network redundancy, lower latency and increased durability," Numoto wrote.

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