It's an interesting post that I don't disagree with; any idea who wrote it?
It does feel slightly behind the curve given what MHCLG already said a couple of months ago around supplier engagement, market analysis, and adoption of common digital solutions.
My general take these days is that this market isn't necessarily broken - it's probably doing what it is supposed to do, i.e. behaving like a market. The issues are symptoms of wider problems, largely lack of capability and capacity on the buy side.
It is just too small and too poor to really be much of a market...like one of those shopping centres on its last legs with just a Greggs, a couple of vape stores and some charity shops.
I wish there was a greater overlap between economists and digital folks. The market is limited size, buyers fragmented but service needs fairly homogeneous. It tends to monopoly with little incentive towards the efficiency &quality end users desire. What is optimum market option in cases like this?
I think part of the answer is to free suppliers up from supporting hundreds of differently customised applications to keep them going, to enable them to focus on improving the software overall. That means having a 'moment' where councils all agree to converge onto std processes & configs
ERP systems would be good first step. There is no reason for the wild variation in processes for finance, HR, procurement and the heavy customisation. Those professions have strong membership bodies in local gov, so could drive this with the right support
I’ve worked on shared services in the commercial world and various flavours of public service. I think pooling the funding and spending authority is the first step to something valuable and sustainable. Maybe the Local Gov restructure can create the conditions for this?
Comments
It does feel slightly behind the curve given what MHCLG already said a couple of months ago around supplier engagement, market analysis, and adoption of common digital solutions.
https://mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2025/04/11/local-digitals-next-steps-with-tom-smith-director-for-artificial-intelligence-and-advanced-analytics/