BSF programme boosts schools' IT spending

[cookie_monster]

BSF programme boosts schools' IT spending | The Register

 

If only we had the 'investment in new technology for secondary schools' now we wouldn't have to stand still untill the BSF train roles in.

Edited August 21, 2008 by cookie_monster

[dhicks]

From the article: "As more schools enter the BSF programme, expenditure will rise steeply,"

 

Am I missing something, or isn't that kind of the opposite to what you'd actually want to happen?

 

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David Hicks

[russdev]

Thing is that total investment will rise as never had such a large investment in one go i saw this report yesterday been trying to see if the original report is on line anywhere.

 

Russ

[DMcCoy]

Although high expenditure is to be expected if you scrap all the existing equipment! Although it's not value for money.

[cookie_monster]

Although high expenditure is to be expected if you scrap all the existing equipment!

 

Yes and scrap all innovation or anything really, it's way too blanket for my liking you really should be able to appeal if you feal the new standard build will be a step backwards.

[Theblacksheep]

Large 'investment' in large companies .... with tax payers money, christ they've got an easy ride.

[Grommit]

pity only really 3 companies are going to get this money and grow richer... RM, RAMESYS and Northgate.. and the loss of the smaller business's that cannot meet BSF criteria and thus cannot compete for contracts

[Grommit]

RM has just bought Easytrace

 

RM gets fingers into school biometrics market | The Register

[cookie_monster]

Yeh saw that easytrace buy.

 

Yes it's a shame how many smaller companies will be ruled out of BSF, hardly the recipe for a competative market it it.

[torledo]

According to the article;

 

"Steve Moss, BSF's strategic director for ICT, said that in terms of its non-financial value, ICT is usually ranked at 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the worth of the programme"

 

So the non-monetary value of ICT in a BSF project is 20-30 percent....but what are the actual figures of the financial value of the ICT contract in a typical BSF project. I'd imagine it's around 5-10%, my impression is that the ICT providers are the poor cousins compared to the other partners in a BSF consortium. I'm sure that's a deliberate attempt to portray BSF ICT contracts as being value for money. But that 20-30 percent of value added through ICT oursoucing is an arbitary figure, how on earth can they measure that ?

 

Perhaps someone could clarify if i've misunderstood what that figure is supposed to mean.

 

ICT outsourcing will increase, spend on ICT services will increase, but as always there isn't much in the way of actual savings and value for money. A paltry 3% savings on communication costs as a result of the investment in outsoucing and ICT. Outsourcing as a cost saver has always been a myth.

Edited August 21, 2008 by torledo

[GrumbleDook]

Approx 10% of the financial value of the contracts but ICT underpins approx 20-30% of the changes and improvements.

 

This is said to emphasise that the changes in ICT are not just about the kit and how it is supported but more about how it is used and changes the way the school operates, students learn and results achieved.

 

Some schools challenge this figure as they predicted that whilst there will be a 20-30% change in ICT it will not all be positive.

[torledo]

I can actually see why only a handful (alright, less than handful) of ICT suppliers are gobbling up most of the BSF contracts. I think it has to boil down profitability....for a small company the investments required to deliver on a single small-ish bsf ICT contract (a few million over several years) would mean something would have to give....either the suppliers bottom line, or the level of service they could provide...or both.

 

Whereas a larger company like RM can take advantage of a large inital upfront investment - or utlisie existing investments in data center and staffing - to realise big cost savings, helping the bottom line.

 

Take for example islington....apparently the ICT contract is worth 6m to RM, out of a total £150m for BSF. 6m doesn't sound like a lot to me, whether it be over a 5-year OR 10-year cycle. I don't see how a small company could do it for 6million.....that would require a serious investment in equipment, training, staff, support, datacenter etc. for even a modest number of schools (say between 100-150)

 

if non-cashable benefits of ICT result in 20-30 % sounds to me like RM are getting the rough end of the stick in a lot of these contract 'wins' (less than 10% financial value of ICT in islington BSF for RM for example).

[Theblacksheep]

if non-cashable benefits of ICT result in 20-30 % sounds to me like RM are getting the rough end of the stick in a lot of these contract 'wins' (less than 10% financial value of ICT in islington BSF for RM for example).

 

They were pretty peeved about not getting through the last round in Kent, got to be worthwhile.