I’m on G-Cloud, do I need to be on Data and Application Solutions?

With Data and Application Solutions scheduled to open in July we thought we’d share why G-Cloud SaaS suppliers should consider this framework.

Revenue anyone?

If you are doing well on G-Cloud and don’t want more revenue, than fair enough maybe Data and Applications isn’t for you. But, let’s face it who doesn’t want extra revenue.

According to Public’s last year State of the UK Govtech market report by 2025 we can expect the public sector tech market to be £20bn. The increase in spending is bound to attract more suppliers and making a splash will be even more difficult. Being on more than one framework will certainly increase your chances of selling.

Data and Application Solutions has an estimated value of £1.2 billion for software and £432 million for services! Although this is not as high an evaluation as G-Cloud, where actual spend has already surpassed £3bn, it’s a number not to be scoffed at.

If you are not doing so well on G-Cloud, then Data & Apps might be the best avenue to enter the public sector market. Why? Keep reading….

Data and Application Solutions will be a less crowded market

Now this is a biggy. We have heard time and again from suppliers that G-Cloud is a crowded marketplace. With 19 296 services listed in G-Cloud 9 it can be challenging for suppliers to stand out. We believe that with hard work and dedication you can stand out, as we say G-Cloud isn’t a source of inbound leads in any case.

We never have and still don’t, understand why you would bother listing on G-Cloud with a low-quality application, since the chances of selling are next to nothing. There are suppliers on the framework with such fails on their listing that buying their services is not even possible. But the reality is they usually get accepted although often don’t last for long and certainly don’t sell anything.

Enter Data and Application Solutions. The DAS framework is looking for the right supplier mix and to achieve that they will be evaluating suppliers before they admit them to the framework. Only approximately 20 suppliers per Lot with proven capabilities will be accepted! This means that it will be much harder to get listed on Data and Apps than it is on G-Cloud. Bear in mind, the application process is likely to be more intensive. If you are an SME and plan on applying, make sure to dedicate sufficient time and resources.

Data and Application Solutions will be more focused on specific verticals

If your target market is Local government, Health and Social Care, Education or Police and Emergency – Data and Application Solutions is a great way forward. The current proposed structure for Data and Apps is 14 Lots grouped by 5 verticals:

Although specific verticals happily use G-Cloud for procuring their cloud tech, we suspect buyers will be keen on using the new framework.

Partly because it is actually not a new framework really. Data and Application Solutions is replacing Corporate Software Solutions RM1042 and Local Authority Software Applications RM1059. We suspect that those buyers who are already accustomed to these frameworks will certainly continue using Data and Applications Solutions.

The other reason is that the structure is more vertical specific, while G-Cloud Lots are more ‘umbrella terms’. For buyers this is an attractive feature making it more solution focused.

Data and Application Solutions call-off contract is seven years

The G-Cloud call-off period is two years with another possible two-year extension. According to the latest CCS update, Data and Application Solutions will have up to a seven-year long call of contract period. Suppliers have been arguing for a longer call of contracts for a while now. It’s a tricky request. While we understand that longer period can seem appealing, they are also risky.

We are not particularly fans of long call-off periods. One of the reasons why we love G-Cloud is that it has put an end to those long lock-in contracts usually held by big SI’s. In the olden days of procurement, it was quite common that public sector contracts were 10+ years long. After all that is how SI’s such as Capita got to where they are now.  Capita was once a modest IT firm in southern England. In 1988 they won a 13-million-pound local authority contract and went from an annual revenue of just 4.3 million pounds to an annual revenue of £8.3bn in 2017. The public-sector market played a major role in this rapid growth!

There is really no indication that Data and Apps is heading that way though.

Last but not least: you can sell your on-premise solutions on DAS

While we agree that cloud should always be first, at times the best solution to a public sector problem is an on-premise one. As we all know by now (hopefully!) G-Cloud is for cloud-based services only. If you are selling on-premise only you should not be on G-Cloud at all! However, there are quite a few suppliers on G-Cloud that offer both. And, up to now they might have not been able to sell their on-premise software. Data and application Solutions is delivery agnostic. You will be able to list your cloud, on-premise and hybrid solutions.