The CloudStore opened on Sunday after a deadline for submissions had to be extended twice in the face of interest, much of which came from SMEs according to Cabinet Office officials.
So how did it work out in practice for SMEs? Not too badly it seems on first sight - some 50% of the companies listed can be classed as an SME. While the inevitable usual ‘big ticket’ names are there – Microsoft, IBM, HP, Dell, SAP and so on – there are enough SMEs involved in the first iteration of the CloudStore to give hope that this might be what SME providers have been waiting for.
Most notable among the SMEs named is Basingstoke-based SME Solidsoft which has acutally built CloudStore on Microsoft’s Windows Azure software platform, a feat it completed in less than four weeks. Garth Pickup, CEO of Solidsoft said:
“Our work on this project, built on the Microsoft platform, will help advance the uptake of Cloud technology and fuel the growth of the UK’s IT SMEs. The CloudStore will help the public sector harness the agility and innovation that SMEs bring to the table. At the same time, it will help those SMEs to conduct effective business with Government, on a level playing field with their larger counterparts. ”
One successful bidder declared this the beginning of the end of large systems firms grip on the public sector. Kate Craig-Wood, CEO of services firm Memset said:
"G-Cloud has the potential to be enormously disruptive. It heralds the breaking of large systems integrators' strangle-hold over government ICT. In my view as tax-paying technology expert their consultancy-lead, bridge-building approach has historically delivered remarkably poor value to government. ”
It's a viewpoint that others agree with. Alistair Mitchell of UK Cloud collaboration services firm Huddle, states:
“Securing government technology deals has long been an area dominated by integrators and technology goliaths and this Framework has now levelled the playing field. The Framework enables organisations to make the move from costly on-premise legacy ICT systems to innovative Cloud-based technologies much faster and creates real competition in the government cloud services marketplace. ”
Leicester-based Jadu's ‘Universe Cloud’, has been listed under two lots in the CloudStore. Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu, said:
“Millions of pounds have been spent on outsourcing deals with large IT services companies for web solutions that can otherwise be implemented quickly and easily by SMEs in the Cloud. SMEs like Jadu can deliver faster, cheaper and more secure solutions, enabling Government to innovate and deliver services much faster. ”
So all told, not a bad start. Yes the 'Usual Suspects' are still there - but if anyone ever thought they wouldn't be then they were kidding themselves. The installed real estate of the likes of IBM and HP and so on is so vast that their non-inclusion would be totally unrealistic. But vitally the 'Little Guys' now have some form of theoretical level playing field. Here is where it starts to get really interesting...
That said, at least one market commentator still has doubts. Tola Serjeant of research firm TechMarketView noted:
“It’s already clear that the government is delivering on its promise of levelling the playing field for SMEs with G-Cloud...it’s clear it is designed very much as a ‘catalogue’ for commodity products – it’s difficult to compare companies on the basis of anything but price. It will undoubtedly drive much faster adoption of Cloud services, provide greater visibility for SMEs, lead to a more competitive market and save the government money in the long term. But in the short term, my concern is whether some of the smaller suppliers on the framework have the capability to services required reliably at volume. ”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Stuart Lauchlan
Quelle/Source: Business Cloud9, 20.02.2012
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