Caught by surprise by the coronavirus crisis, the state had to put millions of public officials into telework as an emergency. But no specific tool was in place. The French government therefore called on Wimi, a French company, to deploy Plano, an application dedicated to civil servants.

For two weeks, there has been a lot of talk about telework. All companies (including Europe 1) had to adapt to confinement to ensure the continuity of all or part of their activity. And it was not easy either for the public service. A large part of the 5.5 million public servants went overnight to work remotely. But many were not equipped. By partnering with the Wimi company, the State has finally developed Plano, a specific telework solution for the public service, deployed since Monday.

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Need a secure tool

Wimi is a company founded in 2010, specialist in collaborative and remote work. For several months, she had already been working on a telework solution for state officials. And the report was not brilliant: only 5% of the agents of the ministries practiced the remote work last year. Hence the need to call on a private company to carry out this project. "The public service was not ready for the remote working revolution. Both in terms of digital sovereignty and cybersecurity, this poses a whole set of challenges which we are obliged to respond to today, somewhat in the "emergency", explains Antoine Duboscq, president of Wimi.

Result: when the coronavirus locks up the French at home, there is no tool designed specifically for civil servants. They therefore use overloaded VPNs and tools like WhatsApp, Skype or even Zoom, an application that has been booming since the start of containment, like everyone else. Except that certain ministry officials work on sensitive projects. "Skype, Whatsapp and other apps of its kind are not professional tools, therefore not necessarily secure. This increases the risk of leaking sensitive data", underlines Antoine Duboscq. "Above all, they are American tools. Entrusting government data to a foreign power is not in our strategic interest."

A very gradual deployment

Wimi therefore completed in ten days a project that would probably have taken months, even years, to hatch otherwise. With Plano, civil servants can chat by message or by videoconference, share and store documents, organize teams around projects… all in a secure environment. "It is an application that was designed specifically for the public service from our existing software, already used by private and public companies," says Antoine Duboscq. Plano has the vocation to continue after the end of confinement to "establish a more agile mode of collaboration in the public service".

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Creating the tool is one thing, using it is another. It is civil servants who must request an account with the Interdepartmental Digital Directorate. According to our information, more than 4,000 have already been created in two days. For the moment, Plano is reserved for ministries, central administration and decentralized state services, for example prefectures and tax centers. But ultimately, local authorities and the hospital could also have access to it.