Softcat on course to hit £100m public sector revenue goal

VAR says objectivity of public sector procurement methods has played into its hands

Softcat has hailed the public sector's openness to new suppliers as the team it launched to penetrate the sector two years ago closes in on its £100m revenue goal.

The reseller says its public sector business is on course to hit £75m for its current fiscal year ending 31 July, up from £50m last year and £25m in fiscal 2010/11.

Jamie Burke, who joined Softcat in April 2011 to helm the team, said the Marlow-based outfit is on track to hit its three-year growth plan designed to deliver public sector revenue in excess of £100m.

It now has more than 50 dedicated public sector staff.

This all comes without it even touching central government, which Burke said would take more time to crack due to the dominance enjoyed by the big SIs.

Softcat's heritage is in the SMB space but Burke said Softcat's lack of public sector experience had not counted against it.

"The biggest difference [between the public and private sector] is that the formality of the public sector tendering process is a lot more equitable," he said. "In the corporate world, it is a lot more subjective in terms of past relationships, whereas the public sector has welcomed us in as a new supplier."

Burke said more than half of Softcat's public sector revenue comes from frameworks, including GPS CITHS, ITHS and G-Cloud I&II, Value Wales and Pro5 Software, with the remainder coming from smaller transactions conducted on an ad hoc basis.

He admitted that Softcat is no longer technically an SMB – after all, it is on course to turn over £380m this year – but still gels with the government's agenda of moving away from large, often US-based suppliers.

"The public sector likes the fact we do a lot on corporate social responsibility – we are not seen as just a corporate beast," he said.

Burke said mobility is taking off in the sector but warned that BYOD has so far been shunned in favour of COD [corporate-owned device] projects.

"BYOD has been slower but we will see more of it as budgets are squeezed," he added.

"There are costs savings to be had but it is also about user experience – if the employee has a MacBook Pro at home, it makes them happier if they can use it in the office."