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A very big thank you to all of our UKHotViews readers and of course all of our TechMarketView clients. Your support and engagement have been incredible through 2022.
Our team will be taking a well-earned break over the festive period but our daily UKHotViews email will return on Tuesday 3rd January.
Until then, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:10' - Tagged: MerryChristmas
TechMarketView is a very highly regarded brand in UK technology, and we are looking for someone new to join our fantastic team of analysts.
We are seeking an analyst with an understanding of Software & IT Services and technology. Your knowledge may be very specific, or it may be very broad. And, if you have an understanding of any aspects of the UK Public Sector that could be an advantage.
You may already be working as an analyst or have a role inside a vendor or enterprise/Government organisation, for example, and are looking to progress your career.
We set the bar high at TechMarketView and you will be expected to have excellent analytical skills and be naturally curious. You will also need to be a great writer, be comfortable with numbers, and be able to present to clients – both face-to-face and via video. You’ll need to be confident, enthusiastic, and keen to work with our sales team on the commercial front. Our clients are at the forefront of everything we do so you’ll need to enjoy helping people find solutions to their business challenges.
Our analysts are creative and have a significant amount of autonomy in producing our research. We work closely as a team here, regardless of your position, and are a friendly bunch.
For the right person, this is an excellent opportunity for career progression. The usual benefits apply, and we offer a competitive salary.
I’d love to hear from you if you think you might fit the bill or if you’d like to ask any informal questions.
Drop me a line: Kate Hanaghan, Chief Research Officer.
Posted by Kate Hanaghan at '09:40'
TechMarketView’s UK Education Software and IT Services (SITS) Suppliers, Trends, and Forecasts report is now available. It is the fifth of six subsector reports that follow our UK Public Sector Software & IT Services Suppliers Trends, & Forecasts report, which was published in July. It also follows our recent SITS market update.
We have already published our subsector reports on Central Government, Defence, Health, and Local & Regional Government and early in the new year we will also publish our report on Police.
In this report you will find our analysis of the performance of the UK Education market in 2021. It also contains an update to our Top 10 SITS supplier rankings for the subsector, with analysis of what is driving each supplier’s performance, as well as an insight into those suppliers that are threatening to unseat the leading players.
We also look at the years ahead (2022-2025) with education establishments trying to juggle salary increases, energy costs and inflation at the same time as they face challenges associated with changing demographics. The Autumn Statement brought an additional £2.3bn in funding to schools in England for 2023– 24 and 2024–25, but was less positive for other education settings; however, there are still opportunities for suppliers with the right SITS proposition.
PublicSectorViews suppliers can find out the size of the UK Education SITS market, its future growth, and who the leading suppliers are by downloading Education Software & IT Services Suppliers, Trends & Forecasts 2022-2025 today.
If you are not yet a subscriber, or are unsure if your organisation has a corporate subscription, please contact Deb Seth to find out more.
Posted by Dale Peters at '07:01' - Tagged: education schools market+trends higher+education supplier+rankings
At the beginning of November 2022, we wrote about the awarding of the Crown Hosting II framework to Crown Hosting Data Centres (CHDC) (see Crown Hosting II awarded to CHDC | TechMarketView). At the time, we saw it purely as an extension of the arrangements that have been in place since 2015. However, there have been some important changes. And those changes might herald a step-change for Crown Hosting.
For those readers unfamiliar with the Crown Hosting framework, it is a Government agreement, managed by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), for the provision of data centre colocation facilities for the ICT of public sector customers. The sole provider under the framework – CHDC – is a joint venture between Ark Data Centres (75%) and the Cabinet Office (25%). Ark constructs, operates, and owns hyperscale data centres for rent, providing the colocation facilities and the associated specialist facilities management and electricity. CHDC is a tenant of Ark and provides public sector customers with access to the highly secure premises “across at least three locations separated by no less than 15km”.
According to the Cabinet Office, over the last seven years, Crown Hosting has “significantly overdelivered in terms of savings”: approximately £2bn of taxpayer’s money, a 75% reduction in electricity costs, and a 99% reduction in CO2 emissions.
In this latest research from TechMarketView’s PublicSectorViews team, we analyse the use of the Crown Hosting framework over the last seven years, the main factors – including the Government’s Cloud First Policy - that have influenced how public sector organisations tackle their technical debt, and how the changes evident within the latest iteration of the framework – alongside an evolving political and economic backdrop - could result in Crown Hosting being viewed by public sector bodies as a more viable option than previously.
The most notable changes to the framework are its extended scope to include migration support; a new shared hybrid infrastructure offering; and access to the framework for system integrator (SI) partners of public sector organisations. To delve deeper into our analysis, TechMarketView PublicSectorViews subscribers can download the report – Crown Hosting II: A game changer? – now. If you would like to find out how to gain access to this research and more besides, please contact Deb Seth or info@techmarketview.com and we would be pleased to help.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '12:55' - Tagged: contract cloud colocation hosting legacy framework public+sector
TechMarketView today launches its updated outlook for the UK Software and IT Services market. In this new forecast cycle, we update the data published in the Summer to reflect current economic conditions and market activity in Q3 and Q4.
As we tracked quarterly supplier results and buyer sentiment/action through the second half of 2022, it became obvious that - despite some more recent reports of a slowdown in decision making - the market has continued to expand at an extremely brisk, in part inflation, fuelled pace.
Analysts have also been able to track how SITS buyers are responding to the wider national and global economic challenges. From increasing inflationary pressures, to continuing widespread supply chain problems, through persistent skills shortages, the bumps in the road for UK organisations large and small, public, and private continue to be both sizeable and extensive. While there are distinct vertical industry and horizontal service line variations, the overall pattern shows enterprises prioritising and increasing investment in technology to accelerate the pace of digital transformation.
TechMarketView now expects that the UK SITS market in 2022 will, at a headline level, both increase 10.2% (prior forecast 8.0%) and sustain a CAGR of 6.6% (prior forecast 5.9%) through to 2025. These figures are, however, buoyed materially by the impact of rising inflation. In real terms, UK SITS demand will be limited to a still healthy 5.6% in 2022 (prior forecast 5.0%) and a CAGR of 3.9% through to 2025 (prior forecast 3.4%).
TechMarketView’s more upbeat re-assessment of the prospects for the UK SITS industry is being driven by the resilience in demand for digital transformation. TechMarketView does, however, anticipate a cooling in market fervour as we go through 2023 and beyond with the pace of SITS expenditure increase – averaging over 5% per annum for the next three years – returning to historic norms.
Read the report for the full forecast update and the details behind the data.
Get the market data and analysis that you can’t get elsewhere: Market Outlook Update: Trends and Forecasts 2022-2025 (for subscribers only). For subscription information, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '09:00' - Tagged: marketdata marketanalysis
As the year draws to a close, TechMarketView analysts have been bringing together their thoughts for 2023. There is no doubt we face uncertain times and a tech scene that will be influenced by a whole range of factors – both positive and not so positive.
However, as we highlighted in our research report, The Impact of economic turbulence on UK SITS, it is TechMarketView’s belief that the tech market will display resilience over the next couple of years.
Indeed, our revised forecasts indicate that growth in 2022 will tick over into double digits at 10.2%. That is up from our original forecast of 8.0%, set in our previous round of forecasts in June.
As we head into what is predicted to be one of the longest recessions the UK has ever seen, tech suppliers will clearly not be immune to the effects. However, there are various reasons to be optimistic. The biggest of those is that technology is now embedded in everything we do, as individuals, as corporates, and as Government.
Moreover, technology is widely viewed as something that can be used as a competitive differentiator, as an efficiency saving tool, and as a productivity enabler (see TechMarketView’s research theme 2023: Pursuing Productivity). It is not a nice to have. Organisations do not view spend on technology as dispensable. Indeed, delaying digital transformation is likely to be seen as folly that will have negative long-term effects.
In this report outlining TechMarketView’s predictions for the UK tech market in 2023, we have focused on the areas that we think will thrive, i.e., where we think our clients should direct their attentions. But we are not ignoring the fact that ‘we all drink from the same trough’. If the end user organisations that tech suppliers service are cutting budgets, technology spend will not be entirely protected. Moreover, the abundant uncertainty being created by the current economic picture, will make buyers more cautious and more reflective of where they spend their money. And this is reflected in our latest forecasts, due for publication next week.
Available for TechMarketView clients are our key Predictions for 2023 – all of which are areas suppliers should focus in on to provide the best value to their customers in 2023. Those Predictions are:
Read the full report for further explanation, see TechMarketView Predictions 2023: Tech opportunities in an economic downturn. To become a TechMarketView client, contact Deb Seth.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '09:45' - Tagged: trends
Chatbots and virtual assistants have been around for quite some time now, whether that is businesses using them for online customer support or the Amazon Alexa in your home. They have certainly improved in recent years, yet while we all find it useful to get Alexa to play our Spotify playlists or tell us the weather, for the most part chatbots have failed to live up to expectations. Machine learning algorithms and natural language processing allow such software tools to answer simple questions, and pull up account information, but in practise they act largely as glorified FAQs, that fail when customer’s problems become too complex.
Artificial Intelligence as a broader technology however is now an integral part of the majority of SITS solutions, enhancing analytics, cloud and security technologies through predictive capabilities, pattern recognition and data classification. Use cases span across all industries, with AI a term better reflecting a group of multiple technologies and methodologies rather than a singular one.
The latest AI that has been attracting attention the world over is ChatGPT, an AI chatbot system developed by software company OpenAI. It focuses on a dialogue format to answer a range of questions and was trained on an array of data from the web. What sets it apart is its ability to provide quite detailed answers, explain its working (such as when analysing code errors) and importantly remembers previous text so users can ask follow-up questions in a conversational manner.
In this new short report, which is available for subscribers here, I thought I would test it out myself and run a sort of mini-interview with ChatGTP. You will also find my thoughts on just whether this will be the next ‘Google killer’ as so many seem to think it is and what this evolution in AI and chatbot technology means for UK organisations.
The report is available here for all TechMarketView subscribers. If you are a subscriber and can’t access the report please get in touch. For further subscription information, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Simon Baxter at '16:53' - Tagged: AI chatbot
TechMarketView today launches its updated outlook for the UK Software and IT Services market. In this new forecast cycle we update the data published in the Summer to reflect current economic conditions and market activity in Q3 and Q4.
As we tracked quarterly supplier results and buyer sentiment/action through the second half of 2022, it became obvious that - despite some more recent reports of a slow down in decision making - the market has continued to expand at an extremely brisk, in part inflation, fuelled pace.
Get the data and analysis that you can’t get elsewhere: Market Outlook Update: Trends and Forecasts 2022-2025 (for subscribers only). For subscription information, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by TMV Team at '09:15' - Tagged: forecasts growth digital marketdata
Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the UK software and IT services (SITS) sector slowed during Q3 2022, as the impact of the economic downturn started to be felt. This is according to data from Silverpeak, the mid-market technology specialists that represent European growth businesses in M&A and financing transactions.
There were 91 acquisitions by and 115 sales of UK SITS companies in Q3, compared to 124 and 132 respectively in Q2. This data includes deals announced, as well as those closed.
However, although these figures represent a sizeable drop in deals from the levels seen from late 2020 to Q2 2022, the figures are still above pre-pandemic norms. As valuations of tech companies fall, so it would appear there is appetite for offers from both private and public buyers with available cash, able to take advantage of reduced prices to bolster their own growth prospects.
Subscribers to the TechMarketView Foundation Service and UKHotViews Premium can read more by downloading the Q3 2022 edition of IndustryViews Corporate Activity.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '15:04' - Tagged: acquisition M&A
Yesterday's employment data showed the economy continuing to add jobs, although vacancies are starting to drop. But it was data on earnings which grabbed the headlines.
Annual growth in private sector pay is at its highest outside of the pandemic period, as employers try to retain staff. And whilst this figure still lags the rate of inflation, it is far ahead of the equivalent figure in the public sector.
In a month which sees strike action across several industries, it will not come as a surprise that many are struggling with significant real terms pay cuts. But the potential impact on the UK tech industry of this pay disparity between the private and public sectors may not yet have received the attention it merits.
Data released by the Department for Education earlier this month shows how difficult it has become in an era of such pay disparity to recruit trainee teachers across many disciplines, including computing. In fact, only 30% of the target number in that subject were recruited for the 2022 intake. Shortfalls in IT staff in schools will inevitably have a significant knock-on effect on UK tech in the years to come.
UKHotViews subscribers can read more about labour market data and its implications for the UK tech industry, including the actions tech companies should be considering, in the full article here. And if you would like to discuss subscription options, please contact Deb Seth.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '09:45' - Tagged: skills employment productivity resilience macro
TechMarketView’s latest data-driven report, which reviews the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Digital Future sales figures covering the first half of the UK Government’s 2022-23 financial year (six months ended 30 September 2022), is available now.
Analysis of the combined spend through six of the Digital Future frameworks (G-Cloud; Digital Outcomes & Specialists (DOS); Cloud Compute; Digital Capability for Health (DCFH); Digital Inclusion & Support (DIS) DPS; and Digital Specialists & Programmes (DSP)), shows spend was up 13% year-on-year to £2.01bn (H1 2021-22: £1.77bn).
Growth has slowed markedly compared with the 32% growth experienced in the same period last year and is only just ahead of the pandemic hit H1 2020-21. Except for Education and Local & Regional Government—which combined represented 9% of total spend—all parts of the public sector experienced slower growth than the same period last year. Part of this is down to increased spend on other frameworks, such Technology Services, but there has also been a marked slowdown in Health spend, which had preivously been boosted by COVID-19 related projects.
G-Cloud accounted for 70% of total spend in the period, DOS for 28% and DCFH 1%. The remaining three frameworks (Cloud Computing, DIS and DSP) represented less than 0.1% of Digital Future spend during the period. Spend via G-Cloud was up 9% year-on-year to £1.41bn, with DOS up 19% to £562.5m (H1 2021-22: £473.6m).
The rate of growth in spend with large companies was slightly faster than that of SMEs during the period, with the former up 14% to £1.27bn (H1 2021-22: £1.12bn) and the latter up 12% to £734.9m (H1 2021-22: £653.5m), resulting in SMEs representing 37% of spend for the year (H1 2021-22: 37%).
Five companies (AWS, Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte and Kainos) broke the £50m barrier for combined G-Cloud and DOS income during the period, with AWS leading the way by a significant margin. Four buyers (Home Office; HMRC; Department for Work and Pensions; and NHS Digital) broke the £100m spend barrier—their combined spend represented 30% of total spend across the six frameworks for the period.
If you are an existing PublicSectorViews subscriber, you can access further analysis and charts now. If you’d like to discuss an extension to your existing subscription or would like details of how to subscribe to TechMarketView, please email Deb Seth.
Posted by Dale Peters at '08:49' - Tagged: government g-cloud data dos digital+marketplace digital+future ccs
If you’re looking for some insightful reading material for the festive break, look no further than the slew of TechMarketView reports published over the last month.
Perhaps start with the team’s Predictions for 2023, which this year focuses on tech opportunities in an economic downturn, closely followed by the launch report for our 2023 research theme, Pursuing Productivity, which highlights the trends we expect to shape the UK tech market in the year ahead.
Then dive into the first report to come out of our partnership with the University of Surrey’s Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI, Building AI-aided Workforce Resilience. This in-depth report looks at how AI/ML is contributing to workforce resilience by assisting, augmenting and protecting human workers.
Or come up to speed on a hot area of the tech sector which has been struggling to deliver on its potential, the Internet of Things (IoT), with Marc Hardwick’s analysis of IoT Orchestration – Getting the most out of IoT investment.
And take a closer look at shared services in the health sector with Georgina O’Toole’s detailed analysis of how NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) is responding to a fast-changing NHS landscape by reimagining shared services for the digital age – NHS SBS: Responding to sector challenges.
Finally, scour the latest market forecast, trends and supplier rankings reports for insight on the fastest growing suppliers, disruptive trends and growth outlook in your markets:
· UK Enterprise Cybersecurity Supplier Rankings
· UK Infrastructure Operations Rankings
· UK SITS BPS Operations Market
· Local & Regional Government SITS Suppliers, Trends & Forecasts
· Financial Markets SITS Trends & Forecasts
If that isn’t enough, don’t forget to check out the UKHotViewsExtra research that we highlighted last week too here.
As ever, if your organisation doesn’t currently have access to our in-depth research and you’d like details of our subscription packages please do drop Deb Seth a line (dseth@techmarketview.com) – now is an excellent time to subscribe at 2022 prices!
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '09:33'
You may already be working as an analyst, have a role inside a vendor or enterprise/Government organisation, and are looking to progress your career.
We set the bar high at TechMarketView and you will be expected to have excellent analytical and writing skills, be comfortable with numbers, and be able to present to clients – both face-to-face and via video. You’ll need to be confident, enthusiastic, and keen to work with our sales team on the commercial front. Our clients are at the forefront of everything we do so you’ll need to enjoy helping people find solutions to their business challenges.
Our analysts are creative and have a significant amount of autonomy in following the research agenda. We work closely as a team here, regardless of your position, and are a friendly bunch.
We’d love to hear from you if you think you might fit the bill or if you’d like to ask any informal questions.
Posted by Kate Hanaghan at '09:30' - Tagged: vacancy
After a turbulent September, share prices steadied in October and rallied during November.
The NASDAQ recovered from the Big Tech wobbles of late October to gain 4.4% month-on-month during November. It remains down 26.7% year-to-date however.
The FTSE Software and Computer Services (SCS) index has also gained during the last two months to add to gains during the Summer, after a rush of takeover approaches for some of its largest players boosted their share prices. It is now down 16.3% year-to-date.
And the commodities-heavy FTSE 100 also enjoyed a good run during October and November and is now up 2.0% relative to its January opening position.
There are various factors playing on the fortunes of these indices now, including expectations of US inflation and what it might mean for Federal Reserve interest rate decisions and the strengthening position of Sterling relative to the US dollar. Meanwhile the fortunes of the US Big Tech players in recent months offer an instructive lesson to all tech companies in the importance of business planning and communication.
UKHotViews Premium readers can read more on the background to the recent gains on the main tech indices and what it may mean for the coming months, as well as thoughts on what we can all learn from Big Tech in Share Performance October-November 2022.
Posted by Tania Wilson at '07:14' - Tagged: markets macro
We set the bar high at TechMarketView and you will be expected to have excellent writing skills, be comfortable with numbers, and be able to present to clients – both face-to-face and via video. You’ll need to be confident, enthusiastic, and keen to work with our sales team on the commercial front. Our clients are at the forefront of everything we do so you’ll need to enjoy helping people find solutions to their business challenges.
Posted by Kate Hanaghan at '09:30'
However, as we highlighted in our research report, The impact of economic turbulence on UK SITS, it is TechMarketView’s belief that the tech market will display resilience over the next couple of years.
Available today for TechMarketView clients are our key Predictions for 2023 – all of which are areas suppliers should focus in on to provide the best value to their customers in 2023. Those Predictions are:
Read the full report for further explanation, see TechMarketView Predictions 2023: Tech opportunities in an economic downturn.
Posted by HotViews Editor at '08:50' - Tagged: budget investments value
It’s been a busy period for our analyst team with a host of insightful reports and in-depth articles published over recent weeks.
Here’ a quick round-up of the latest UKHotViewsExtra articles which are accessible to all subscription clients, including individual UKHotViews Premium subscribers:
CrowdStrike warns of macro headwinds impacting growth – Simon Baxter provides a perspective on the outlook for the cybersecurity market after CrowdStrike warns of macro headwinds.
TPXimpact H1: Challenged internally and externally – Georgina O’Toole provides an update on TPXimpact’s fortunes after the co-founders, Neal Ghandi and Oliver Rigby, stepped down from their CEO and CFO positions.
Doubling Access Group doubles again – Angela Eager examines how it is that Access Group has consistently managed to double its size every two years whilst maintaining profitable growth.
Autumn Statement 2022: With challenge comes change and opportunity – Another detailed analysis piece from Georgina highlights areas of opportunity for tech suppliers to the UK market, including the public sector.
System C positions for growth – Tola Sargeant talks to new System C CEO Nick Wilson about his bold ambitions for the health & care software and services provider, which celebrates its 40th birthday next year.
Agilisys’ new business unit: doubling down on Data & Decisions – If you think you know what Agilisys has to offer the market, you might want to think again says’ Georgina O’Toole as they embark on refocusing and simplifying their propositions.
Advanced advancing in the cloud, internationally and acquisitively – A deep dive into how Advanced is evolving and what the future holds for the PE-backed business as Tola Sargeant catches up with CEO Gordon Wilson and CMO Sally Scott.
UK quoted sector round-up - Tania Wilson provides an update on a volatile few months for the main tech indices and asks where next for tech stocks?
Click the titles above to link direct to the article or visit the UKHotViewsExtra page on the website to scroll through all the recent articles.
Access to these in-depth analysis pieces is included with a corporate subscription to any TechMarketView research stream, and with an individual UKHotViews Premium subscription for entrepreneurs and tech professionals (available from just £395 +VAT, see here).
Posted by Tola Sargeant at '09:12'
NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) has grown and evolved significantly since its inception more than 15 years ago. Its capabilities have been expanded to cover all essential corporate services and it has grown its client base such that it now services 47% of the country’s NHS organisations, touching almost every part of the health service at a national, regional, and local level. In addition, it has continued to develop new solutions and has worked to introduce emerging technologies to modernise its approach.
Importantly, during the pandemic, NHS SBS proved its resilience and agility as it continued to deliver critical services uninterrupted, responding to exceptional peaks in demand during challenging circumstances. As it looks to the future and to the delivery of next-generation business process services, it must do so against a backdrop of change and uncertainty – specifically, increased demand, complex patient needs, and budget constraints. NHS reform is accelerating with the creation of Integrated Care Systems and the need for an integrated view across health and social care is greater than ever.
In this research, following an in-depth interview with NHS SBS Managing Director, Erika Bannerman, TechMarketView looks at how NHS SBS is responding to a fast-changing NHS landscape by reimagining shared services for the digital age – developing new platforms and services that make life easier for NHS employees, patients, and suppliers.
TechMarketView PublicSectorViews subscribers can download the research now - NHS Shared Business Services: Responding to sector challenges. If you are not a subscriber to the PublicSectorViews research stream, or want to find out if your organisation has a corporate subscription, please contact Deb Seth who will be happy to help you to gain access to this and much more besides.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '11:15' - Tagged: nhs strategy jointventure health market+trends public+sector marketanalysis
Investors were spooked yesterday as CrowdStrike shares fell ~15% on news that the company sees macro headwinds impacting growth.
For Q3 FY23, CrowdStrike reported total revenue of $580.9m, a 53% increase yoy. Subscription revenue grew 53% yoy, whilst professional services revenue was $33.5m, representing 46% yoy growth. Net loss was $55m ($50.5m in Q3 FY22), but with plenty of cash in the bank this is not a concern. The company continues to invest heavily in R&D, sales and marketing, looking to strengthen and consolidate its position in the market. In terms of geographic performance, the U.S. grew 46% and international revenue grew 72% yoy.
However, despite posting still very strong growth it was commentary around increased macroeconomic headwinds that caught investors attentions with Q3 net new ARR below expectations. Management said it is seeing organisations starting to respond to macroeconomic conditions by adding extra layers of required approvals and extending the time to close deals.
Despite a limited UK presence, as one of the largest providers of security software CrowdStrike are a good bell weather for cybersecurity spending, especially for cloud and platform-based security solutions.
TechMarketView subscribers, including UKHotViews Premium subscribers, can read more about the company’s performance and what the impact of these macro headwinds may mean for UK enterprise customers in our UKHotViewsExtra article - CrowdStrike warns of macro headwinds impacting growth
Subscribers to TechMarketView's TechSectorViews research stream who want to gain greater insight into the UK Cybersecurity supplier landscape can read our latest report UK Enterprise Cybersecurity Supplier Rankings 2022.
If you are not yet a subscriber, or are unsure if your company has a corporate subscription, please contact Deb Seth to find out how you can gain access to our research and much more.
Posted by Simon Baxter at '09:26' - Tagged: cybersecurity economy
