I met up with public sector-focused consultancy, Methods Consulting CEO Peter Rowlins and co-owner and director Mark Thompson the other day (see Methods surviving the madness). The meeting substantially transformed my view on the role that SMEs can play in the UK government IT market.
I have been rather sceptical about government pronouncements and intentions towards involving UK SME software and IT services companies in major IT projects, partly because of the horrendously protracted and (for SMEs) prohibitively costly procurement processes involved. I had therefore assumed that SME’s would generally be relegated to the role of lowly subcontractor to one of the ‘usual suspect’ top-tier SIs.
Well, Rowlins and Thompson set me straight. I can’t mention the deals, but Methods is playing a pivotal role in some key central and local government projects – sometimes in concert with other SMEs. To my surprise, Rowlins strongly denounced the whinging and moaning in some parts of the SME community that government needs to give preferential treatment to SMEs. As far as he is concerned, there should not be a different set of rules for SMEs – simply the proverbial ‘level playing field’. Rowlins believes this will be achieved as government slices up major, complex procurements into smaller, shorter deals more accessible to SMEs, and also stops ‘gold plating’ what could otherwise be more commoditised services.
I find Rowlins’ attitude hugely refreshing. All we need are more companies like Methods! I’m not sure Rowlins and Thompson would necessarily agree with that, of course, but the more ‘proof points’ we have that SMEs can participate in prime roles in major government IT projects (and deliver, of course), the more likely it is that government will be encouraged to reduce its dependency on megadeals with megaplayers.