How much will really change in 2012 for the UK public sector tech market?

Analyst firm TechMarketView has published its annual predictions for the UK public sector:

Government ICT strategy will languish as new CIO team boards

When the new CIO in place, the new Cabinet Office team will face an enormous task with a myriad risks threatening to hamper the implementation of the UK Government ICT strategy

A peak in renewals will result in radical contract restructuring

In 2012 we will see a peak in the number of contracts coming to their natural conclusion. Contracts will be radically restructured on renewal as UK Government moves from a vertically-siloed model to a horizontal model.

Megaplayers will retain lion’s share of major contract renewals

In times of austerity, and a propensity for low-risk options organisations are expected to stick to the suppliers they know  -  which will likely be industry leading suppliers.

Shared services will really take off

2012 and 2013 will be remembered in the UK public sector as the period when shared services really took off. Procurement and G cloud platforms will give departments and agencies more flexibility to buy from shared services centres in the future. The competition is expected to be intense.

SMEs will establish beachhead in government shared services

SMEs will have more opportunities as contracts are broken down, particularly where niche requirements are separated out and procured separately. The most successful suppliers will be those that focus on being best of breed in one or a handful of niche service lines that can be shared horizontally across multiple organisations.

G-Cloud will be patchy and slow-moving

New shared services organisations will give cloud adoption a push in the right direction. But shared services ventures aside, adoption of cloud services will be very slow to take off. The letting of the short 6-9 month G-Cloud framework (due early next year) indicates to us that most cloud adoption will be happening on low-risk smaller projects as UK Government dips its toe in the water to see what works and what doesn’t.

Mega players will further penetrate local government markets

The central government market is tough. Sectors like police (internal to external shift in spend), education (higher education in particular), and health (renewed interest due to localism agenda) are attracting increasing interest from the traditionally central government-focused suppliers. Many are investing in sector specific solutions and will be keen to see a return.