Vote David Mann for techUK’s Central Government Council

The pendulum has swung away from SMEs and back towards big contracts and big suppliers

The UK public sector needs SMEs more than ever if we are to overcome the challenges we face, from restoring faith in crumbling institutions to fixing creaking public services. 

That’s why I’m standing to represent the voice of SMEs on techUK’s Central Government Council

Back in 2012, it felt like SMEs were finally able to challenge the oligopoly of a small number of large systems integrators. GCloud and the Digital Marketplace were great levellers and allowed the digital SME sector to flourish. 

Fast forward 10 years and it feels like that momentum has been lost. The pendulum has swung away from SMEs and back towards big contracts and big suppliers. It’s almost as if we’ve forgotten the hard won lessons of the last decade.

This is the story I want to tell and I know that others in the industry share my view that bigger isn’t always better. As SMEs, what we lack in scale, we make up for in agility and the quality of the work we do. SMEs have done some outstanding work to improve critical national services.

We have seen consolidation in our sector gathering pace and many SMEs being absorbed by larger organisations. We have taken a different path at dxw, that of employee ownership. We believe this is a model that others could follow to create an alternative model for delivering digital services that are fit for the 21st century.

You need to be a techUK member or sign-up with techUK to vote and the polls close on 24th January at 5PM. Vote for me!