SME Toolkit

Story: IT megadeals mean SMEs lose out

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I find this research VERY easy to believe. With respect, I am not sure that Ipswich really fits into the SME IT services supplier bracket. Ipswitch supply products that are then picked up by the big IT supply people as part of their offering. The article suggested that the only way for SMEs to get in on this market was to club together to form a pseudo-big company, which Chris confirms in his comment.

The core problem is that the government seems to think it will get a better deal by creating mega-contracts and limiting themselves to the small number of big IT supply companies that have the resources to answer the call. In many cases there is no good reason why the jobs can't be dished out on a local level to small suppliers. There is far more competition at this level and far more scope for the contract to be moved in the event of a supplier not coming up to par. Bear in mind that as the job is spread out, others will be doing the same job in other areas so they can take over straight away.

Bigger is anything but better.

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