Give an SME a try

Working with small suppliers is good for the public sector IT.

The UK Government is increasingly taking steps to give small and medium enterprises (called SMEs) better access to public markets and to remove barriers preventing SMEs from winning public contracts in the IT space.

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) revealed that the government and other public sector organisations had spent more than ￡1.2 billion with cloud and digital SMEs since 2012. Almost half of digital spend by the public sector - ￡1.39 in every ￡3 is going to SMEs. Overall, public sector spend on cloud storage and IT support has continued to rise year-on-year, reaching a total of ￡2.6 billion.

Recently, the government reasserted its aspiration that ￡1 in every ￡3 of government spending should go to SMEs. To meet this target, CCS has implemented a range of measures - from simplifying terms and conditions and streamlining the application process for companies to become government suppliers, to introducing new Dynamic Purchasing Systems and tackling late payments.

Specific characteristics of public procurement – such as the complexity of procedures and administrative requirements can impact how SMEs access the government IT market. However, recent G-Cloud framework changes have certainly helped to reduce this impact and made it easier for government departments and organisations to leverage the breadth and depth of SME skills and services available.

Why focus on SMEs?

It is with good reason the government is focusing on small businesses. Small businesses accounted for 48 per cent (12.1 million) of UK private sector employment and their combined annual turnover was ￡1.2 trillion - 33 per cent of all private sector turnover.

At a national level, small businesses generate wealth, drive innovation, create jobs, train apprentices, and provide the tax revenues that benefit the nation as a whole.

So, what are the benefits of working with SMEs?

Engaging SMEs in public procurement is beneficial for the public sector for a number of reasons:

• Flexibility: SMEs, due to their size and ability to flex and shift services, mean that they can work with organisations and departments in a much more innovative, responsive and flexible manner.
• Speed: SMEs are not bound by large organisation complexity, and bureaucracy. They can execute quicker and therefore, deliver the outcomes needed and the associated benefits within timescales that are tangible to the organisations.
• Better Value: SMEs typically have lower administrative and management costs allowing them to provide better value for money.
• Better Quality: SMEs are much better at delivering a quality service. As they are smaller and more focused, they can better understand customer needs and deliver a quality service.
• Tailored Services: Size, speed, agility and focus, means that SMEs can tailor their services to match clients’ needs. Rather than “one-size-fits-all” approach for large organisation, SMEs look to match their services to customer business needs.
• More Personable: Finally, SMEs seek to build long term relationships, as they grow their business. Their reputation is everything and they recognise this. The partnership and focus on long term relationships with their clients, makes them more personable to work with.

Here at MDB Service Consulting, we are proud to be an SME. We work with organisations across both the public and private sector; engaging on some of the most complex; challenging and critical digital transformation programmes around.

Our customers say we are “consultants who are not consultants”. We roll up our sleeves, get stuck in and help our customers succeed. If you are facing challenges with your digital transformation, get in touch, so we can roll our sleeves up and help you succeed.

For more information visit www.mdbsc.co.uk or [email protected]

Source information:

https://governmentbusiness.co.uk/features/%C2%A326bn-spend-it-public-sector