G-Cloud was to be a revolution in public sector that would shake free of IT Cartels and oligopolies of large scale suppliers. So, did we miss something?
A quick scan through the list of CloudStore providers finds some very familiar names for the public sector: HP, Capgemini, Capita, CSC, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Logica, Dell, IBM, EMC and so on. If we threw in the absent Oracle, we might almost be able to say the gang’s all here.
So what happened to the revolution, asked one baffled public sector user on Twitter this morning. Well, firstly, don’t underestimate some of the more revolutionary aspects of the CloudStore announcement.
As we’ve noted elsewhere, some 50% of the CloudStore winning applicants this time around are companies that can be categorised as SMEs. Secondly, the revolutionary nature of the CloudStore may lie less in the suppliers whose offerings have been mandated and more in its impact on the procurement process and thus on budgets and ultimately the taxpayer.
It’s being pointed out today that there are flaws in assuming that just because there are now over 250 approved suppliers that this somehow means that choosing a provider becomes easier. It doesn’t really – you’ve still got to know your onions to know which ones will best meet your specific needs. But at least you know that you have a list of approved suppliers from which to begin your own accreditation.
The other revolution comes in the contract durations. You buy something from the CloudStore and you’re signing up for a one year deal, not a ten year deal in which you’re locked in regardless of fault or favour on either side. As legal actions continue to hover around the NHS National Programme for IT, consider how much of whatever happens next and the mighty bill that the taxpayer ends up carrying is down to being locked into contractual handcuffs.
Finally, consider the practicalities. The private sector long ago came to terms with the integration challenges of the Cloud. You don’t just chuck all your existing on premise architecture out overnight and start again with Cloud versions. Co-existence is the name of the game and that’s even more so the case in the public sector. Once you take that into account and consider the amount of ICT real estate tied into IBM and HP and Microsoft et al in the public sector then the idea that they would not be part of the CloudStore becomes inherently laughable.
The difference with this is the way in which they will operate and interact with buyers. Let’s not forget also that these are suppliers with a strong knowledge of how the public sector works. That might not always have translated into the best results, but it’s important to remember that there are successes throughout the sector, not just the headline-grabbing problem cases.
What matters now is how they adapt to the new realities of a Cloud-age. So let’s take heart at comments such as this from Mark Wyllie, Capita executive director, IT and consulting who argues:
Or from Jonathan Mills, director of local public services at Capgemini, who states:
If that new era is helped on its way by the CloudStore, then revolution it is – always remembering that revolutions don’t need to be bloody and violent; they can be quiet and longer term.
