G-Cloud promises to pull its socks up

Launches awareness campaign among public sector authorities

G-Cloud has promised to try to improve awareness of the framework among the public sector after research found that most authorities have no idea what it is.

Before Christmas, Six Degrees Group research found that 87 per cent of public authorities it quizzed were not currently buying through the framework, and 76 per cent had no idea what G-Cloud could even be used for.

But the initiative - which was launched in 2012 in an effort to make life easier for smaller IT suppliers wanting to sell to the government - insisted today that it will make a concerted effort to boost awareness among UK authorities.

It said G-Cloud had the scope to reach about 30,000 buyers, but admitted that the cultural change associated with the buying model can be a worry for the public sector.

"Of course, any transformational change of the scale that G-Cloud can deliver may be scary," it said. "We're speaking to buyers to find out how we can communicate with them better and to really get to the bottom of their concerns about using G-Cloud and then address those issues head on."

As part of its marketing push, G-Cloud has published a guide for buyers with more detailed information on how to use the framework and promises to release more advice to help buyers cope with any major issues that may arise.

It also pledges to better vet the quality and quantity of services available on the CloudStore portal. Currently, 13,000 services are available, and it said it wants to build the base so even more suppliers can offer their services through the framework.

"But it is not all about numbers," it said. "We also need to ensure quality and that the services fall within the terms of the framework.

"We are carrying out a systematic review of all services and have, so far, deleted around 100 that do not qualify. We will continue to check new services as part of the assurance process."