It was great to read that the Smart421 Digital Enablement Services Catalogue (DESC) framework was accepted in its entirety onto the Digital Marketplace last week. As the last major activity I worked on with the team as departing COO at Smart, I had hoped it was a going to be a successful entry.
This iteration takes the total services Smart421 offered to 40, but with a quoted 19,966 services available across the suppliers how do you stand out ?
This is why the DESC framework is so important. It enables Government departments to procure one or more individual components all of which work together and can be built upon to provide a comprehensive full cloud stack.
The success of the Digital Marketplace has already been demonstrated on two fronts: actual cash savings of up to 50% on ‘like for like’ services for government – and the easing of the procurement process (see Tony Singleton blog update from last April) but I also think there has been a spin off benefit for companies entering Public Sector market for the first time.
Thinking back, the development of the DESC framework was a watershed moment of maturity for Smart421 and our approach to Public Sector. I was keen on developing the G-Cloud entries (looking back we were early adopters) not only as an element in our strategy to build a Public Sector team but also as the act of completing the on-line forms made us think more constructively – which in turn sharpened the Enterprise offerings.
If I am honest though, the great product set we had was not really joined up in earlier G Cloud iterations and it was only by standing back, looking at how we would complete the new formats on G Cloud 6 and talking it through with our Public Sector Cloud partners Skyscape, that the transformational benefit of our approach surfaced.
I’m not sure what the digital equivalent is of the old cheesy sales joke about “buying more fax machines to accept the orders as they pour in” – possibly setting up more info@ e-mail addresses – but I hope the Public Sector team in Smart are doing just that.
Martin Brazill 