After a very slow first quarter, workforce and compliance optimisation specialist Allocate Software has had a much stronger Q2. It closed every contract forecast for the period and achieved its second highest billing quarter for its HealthRoster application. As a result, it’s set to meet the revised first half expectations it set out in October (see Licence shortfall points to H1 revenue miss at Allocate Software) with revenues marginally ahead of the same period last year. And CEO Ian Bowles is confident of carrying the 'strong momentum' into the rest of the financial year.
Allocate is seeing more demand than it expected for its new Cloud service, both in terms of pipeline value and the number of contracts closed. It has signed 13 contracts since the launch of the service last July, including multi-year deals with two major teaching hospitals. Whilst the evolution of the business model will present its challenges, the move cloudwards is inevitable. We expect an increasing number of NHS Trusts to embrace SaaS over the next few years (see UK Healthcare SITS Market Trends & Forecasts), so it's important for Allocate and its peers to have the flexibility to be able to offer applications either on-premise or via a fully managed Cloud service.