G- CLO U D BE S T
P RA CTI C E G U I D E S
PA RT 2 : G E T O PTI MI SE D
G-CL O U D B E ST P R ACT ICE GUIDE S
PART
PART1:2:GET
GETCOMPLI
OP TI MIANT
SED
Dear reader,
Only a week left till the announced launch of G-Cloud 9! 7th of March
and ALL current and new suppliers will need to reapply!
Hopefully you already read the first part of our G-cloud best practice
guides and are on your way to GETTING COMPLIANT for G-Cloud 9.
In partnership with Lindsay Smith from Gcloud Sales we bring you the
second part of our best practice guides: GET OPTIMISED.
How to get optimised? Our research points to three elements:
•S
ERVIC E DEFINITION: 25% of G-Cloud vendors with zero sales their service definition was a
‘fatal flaw’. Now G-Cloud 9 changes say SD will be optional. Long term this is a good thing as
the quality of a lot of SDs was shockingly poor. However, we recommend companies continue
submitting these for the time being as buyers are notoriously slow to change. Well-crafted and
detailed SDs are a great way to evaluate and down-select, especially in a crowded market.
• I SO 27001: 60% of successful SMEs were ISO27001 accredited. SMEs with a successful sales
record were 50% more likely to be ISO27001 accredited than SMEs with no sales.
•B
OXES SUCCESSFUL VENDORS TICK: Of the 60+ attributes that relate to service
providers and how they operate (rather than to the functionality of the services they offer),
there were 16 which appear to correlate strongly with G-Cloud sales success.
Our actionable best practice guides will get you on your way to selling.
WE CALL THIS THE G-CLOUD MATURITY MODEL:
1 . GET C O M PLIA NT > 2. G E T O P T I MI S E D > 3 . G E T MA R K E T I NG
> 4. GET SELLI N G > G - C L O U D S U C C E S S
Now… we only looked in depth at SaaS vendors so your company might not be among the ones we
analysed for this. But considering that what we found is not rocket science, we are willing to bet most
of the findings will be directly relevant to suppliers on the other G-Cloud Lots too.
Enjoy and let us know what you think!
Warm regards,
Advice Cloud Team
01
1
G-CL O U D B E ST P R ACT ICE GUIDE S
PART 2: GET OP TI MI SED
I S YO U R SERVICE DEFIN I TI ON D ETAI L ED EN OUG H ?
Now G-Cloud 9 changes say SD will be optional. Long term this is a good thing as the quality of a lot of
SDs was shockingly poor. However, we recommend companies continue submitting these for the time
being as buyers are notoriously slow to change. Well-crafted
and detailed SDs are a great way to evaluate and downselect, especially in a crowded market.
WHAT THE RES EARCH SHOWED: That for 25% of
G-Cloud vendors with zero sales their service definition was
a ‘fatal flaw’.
It’s a feature of the cloud market that the buyer is doing
more of the buying process before contacting the vendor.
That makes the service definition document that you upload
so much more important. It needs to define your service in
detail. If a buyer can’t find a critical feature, you can’t count
on them contacting you to check if it’s included.
“For G-cloud 9, the Digital Marketplace team and CCS have just completed a
consultation on a comprehensive and expanded set of questions which in some
cases allow a free text response (albeit with limitations on word count). This
negates the need for Service Definitions, and enables suppliers to compete on a
level playing field. Nevertheless, preparing a Service Definition for your service/s
will be a good investment. Although the Service Definitions are not searchable
(as is the case for G7 and G8) they will allow you to provide richer information
to the buyer about your capabilities, services, and service levels than the online
questions allow.”
Mark Jackson, Director of Partners at UKCloud
DO
• Give a detailed account of the service you are offering.
• Include functions, technical specifications, outcomes and benefits as well as the specific
information required by the Framework Agreement.
• Think of a buyer’s possible questions and try to answer them.
• Remember that although G-Cloud says this is not a sales document, it’s actually all you’ve got
to sell. (Because of this we’ll be taking another look at optimising your service definition in
Part 11 > Making the shortlist.)
© 2016 Rowallan International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Published by Advice Cloud under licence.
2
G-CL O U D B E ST P R ACT ICE GUIDE S
PART 2: GET OP TI MI SED
DON’T
• Supply a series of links to details of your service on your website.
• Upload a marketing brochure instead of a service definition document.
• Provide a list of technical specifications without relating them to functions.
• List outcomes and benefits without describing the service
THE BUYER’ S QUESTI ON :
Does the service have all of my must-have requirements?
 Yes – Put this one on the shortlist
 No – ¡Hasta la vista, baby!
S EC U R I T Y MATTERS : ISO 27001
WHAT THE RES EARCH SHOWED: 60% of successful SMEs were ISO27001 accredited. SMEs with a
successful sales record were 50% more likely to be ISO27001 accredited than SMEs with no sales.
You don’t have to have ISO27001 certification to be listed on G-Cloud. But there does seem to be a
preference for it. Buyers are familiar with it, and they aren’t used to buying from smaller providers. So
chances are they’ll be looking for assurances, something to give them confidence.
ISO27001 is a strong differentiator too, so ask yourself: ‘Why wouldn’t I adopt it?’ If you begin to frame
your answer along the lines of ‘we’re pretty informal about security…’ well, yes that’s exactly what the
buyer’s afraid of. It’s time you signed the pledge.
For these reasons, and because of the benefits it can bring to your operations, getting ISO27001 is
definitely something we recommend to our clients.
“ISO 27001 is a differentiator today and in the coming months it’s likely to
become a minimum certification as recent G-Cloud commentaries suggest it
will be looking for firms to comply with the Cloud Security Principles (where ISO
27001 is part of the governance framework), and of course there is the incoming
EU GDPR too. Buyers will demand that standard to help demonstrate risk
management of their supply chain. Smart buyers are also selecting suppliers with
these credentials in place for new contracts now, not just after May 2018. They
do not want to have to renegotiate contracts mid year or swap out suppliers who
fail to meet those standards. I’d recommend anyone serious about selling over
G-Cloud starts their journey to ISO 27001 as quickly as possible. They can then at
least signal in their G9 submission they are in the process of being certified.”
Mark Darby, CEO at Alliantist
© 2016 Rowallan International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Published by Advice Cloud under licence.
3
G-CL O U D B E ST P R ACT ICE GUIDE S
PART 2: GET OP TI MI SED
ALREADY ISO27001 CERTIFIED?
Remember to include your ISO27001 certification under Vendor Certification
first, and although for G-Cloud 9 this is optional, we recommend you also put
it in the Service Definition.
T HE BO X ES SUCCES SFUL V EN D ORS TI CK
WHAT THE RES EARCH SHOWED: That of the 60+ attributes that relate
to service providers and how they operate (rather than to the functionality of
the services they offer), there were 16 which appear to correlate strongly with
G-Cloud sales success.
ATTRIBUTES ASSOCIATED WITH SUCCESSFUL VENDORS
Of these 16 non-functional attributes, there are eight that appear to be
particularly significant, and another eight that were less significant, but still
appear to give you an edge.
THE TOP 8
THE REST
• Attach to secure networks, PSN, GSi
• The number of support modalities on offer
• Service availability in excess of 99.9%
• A secure erasure process
• Use identity standards
• Vendor certifications • Have Security Clearance (SC)
• Have service management separation
• Support API access
• A Tier 3 or 4 datacentre
• Have ISO27001 or similar
• Manage data in the UK
• Use a UK datacentre
• Open source software
• Fall under UK legal jurisdiction
• Event monitoring
“This clearly shows what buyers are looking for in addition from G-Cloud
suppliers. Data sovereignty, a decent set of 9’s (I mean seriously who has less than
three 9’s these days anyway?) SC clearance etc etc. However, this also shows that
in contrary to GDS’ recent statement that most Public Sector workloads can be
delivered over the internet, many Public Sector buyers are still cautious about
their data and its security. Those looking to differentiate themselves need to pay
close attention here!”
Chris Farthing, MD at Advice Cloud.
© 2016 Rowallan International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Published by Advice Cloud under licence.
4
G-CL O U D B E ST P R ACT ICE GUIDE S
PART 2: GET OP TI MI SED
HOW ADVICE CLOUD CAN HELP:
We can make sure your listing is fully compliant
and optimised for G-Cloud 9. Email us for your
free consultation.
UP NEXT
So you’re COMPLIANT and OPTIMISED; you’ve
got everything in place to be a contender for
the shortlist. But is the buyer going to find you
in the first place? It’s time to get MARKETING.
© 2016 Rowallan International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Published by Advice Cloud under licence.
5