The public domain
Ahead of the publication of the CRN Public Sector report, we chat to Dell's public sector head Claire Vyvyan
The public sector has long been one of the channel's most fruitful markets. But resellers will hardly need reminding of the challenges faced by government technology and spending chiefs in the last five years. And, whichever party has its hands on the purse strings, there must be many resellers who can attest to the frustrations of the occasionally onerous and overlong tender process.
But repeated governments have stressed their belief in the tech industry, as well as the smart use of IT to create efficiencies. Opportunity will always abound for skilled, canny and responsive IT and services providers.
Ahead of the publication of the CRN Public Sector Report, we caught up with Claire Vyvyan (pictured below), the UK public sector head of one of the world's biggest vendors, Dell, to discuss trends in the public sector.
How partner-centric is Dell's public sector business?
It depends how you define partner. About half of the business goes indirect in some shape or form. Partner includes everyone from the big systems integrators, and we have a number of OEM [partners] I would include in that. We do a lot of work with many of the PACS (picture archiving and communications system) providers in healthcare. I obviously work with the classic value-added resellers too.
What are some of the key trends you have seen in how the public sector procures and uses IT in the last few years?
The policy of central government, driven by the Cabinet Office and ERG, has changed a lot. There is a general desire, which we broadly support, to drive more business through SMEs. There has been a strategy through the term of this government to move away from the big SIs and try and open up central government.
How much have public sector CIOs moved towards as-a-service provision and OpEx-based models?
The traditional model is still larger than the as-a-service model. At this point in time it is very different by vertical. In healthcare we are seeing some trusts switch back to a CapEx model where they are coming out of the National Programme for IT and moving back to owning their own infrastructure. In education we see a drive towards OpEx models, particularly in the free schools and academies marketplace.
What about local and central government?
Central government is still a n infrastructure play, alongside big managed services [contracts]. The vertical markets are morphing at different rates. We are also seeing a big shared services agenda. I think everybody is talking about it and there are seven or eight [projects] that are actually driving benefits.
How much has procurement moved to a few big-ticket frameworks - are local bodies aware of these and are they using them?
I think they are broadly being used; about 80 per cent of our business goes through frameworks. The government talks a lot about consolidation of frameworks, but we have not seen that - we have seen more diversity and different types of framework. They are massing, as opposed to consolidating. There are geographic frameworks, vertical frameworks and the big central government frameworks [created] by the GPS.
What advice do you have for partners who want to maintain or win business in the public sector?
I think for the partner community it really is about being clear about what solutions they are taking to market. I never think of the public sector as a single entity. Even if we take a vertical market like education, what you need to supply to help a primary school is very different from a further education college. It is about being clear about what they are bringing. We are trying to be an easy partner to do business with and trying to help people build their reach.