G-Cloud Buyers Guide - Your 5 Step Process to Buying Cloud Services

Emily Wijeyesinghe, Marketing Executive, Altiatech • Feb 20, 2020

Procurement Advice for Buying Cloud Services on the G-Cloud Framework

If you're in charge of IT spend for public sector organisations, finding the right solution to deliver the best products, services or expertise can be costly and time consuming.

However, with G-Cloud, there is a way to streamline the process and still have access to innovative technology that is both cost-effective and easy to procure.

Because the UK Government has made the procurement process much simpler and faster for public sector buyers, you can now search, select and directly award contracts to the most suitable supplier via the Digital Marketplace.

With our simple guide, we've compiled a list of 5 easy steps you can follow to buy G-Cloud Services.
But before you start the process, write down your needs and consider the following:

What funds do you have available?
What are the technical and procurement requirements needed for the project?
How will you evaluate each supplier?

Your 5 Step Process to Buying on the G-Cloud

Step 1. Optimise your Search

With up to 4,000 suppliers and 30,000 services, it can be a little overwhelming. Start by choosing your category. You can choose cloud hosting, cloud software or cloud support, alternatively you can select all three if you're not sure where to start.

To refine your search, use keywords and filters to discover the most relevant services.

If you are looking specifically for Altiatech's G-Cloud services, you can access all of our offerings here.

Step 2. Export and Download your Results

It's advisable to save your search, so all relevant suppliers are kept on record. It's also a good idea to export the information to help you work through the list. The downloaded report will include the service description from each supplier, along with their contact details and prices.

Step 3. Start Evaluating the Services

To evaluate what’s on offer, consider the steps below for each service.

Carefully review service descriptions. Dedicate some time to go through the descriptions, making sure services best match your needs and budget.
Always ask questions. You can contact suppliers to ask them to explain their service, what their terms and conditions are, along with pricing or service definition documents. However, you must not negotiate with them on price.
Is it cost-effective? What is the price and running costs of the service? What after-sales service management is there? Will you receive help with onboarding and offboarding? Is there scalability with this solution?

Step 4. Award a Contract

You've made your list, evaluated all possible contenders, and now you've chosen your supplier. You can follow the official guide by the Digital Marketplace to understand how to award a contract here.

Step 5. Submit a Customer Benefits Record

Once you have awarded the contract, you'll be asked by the Digital Marketplace to submit a customer benefits record. This helps the Crown Commercial Service to contact you if they find any issues with the supplier.

For more details on Altiatech's cloud services on the G-Cloud framework, please visit our G-Cloud page.

< Older Post Newer Post >

Like this article? Follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter or Facebook for more updates.

Mail

Microsoft Calling Plans Vs Direct Routing

Microsoft Teams - Calling Plans VS Direct Routing

By Emily Wijeyesinghe, Marketing Executive • 21 Apr, 2021

Microsoft Calling Plans Vs Direct Routing? We look at the advantages and disadvantages of both, and weigh up which solution would offer you a more flexible and cost-effective business telephony solution.

What is Shadow IT?

By Emily Wijeyesinghe, Marketing Executive • 30 Mar, 2021

Running an IT department is difficult. That much is obvious. Yet as technology continues to advance and businesses rely on more and more IT resources, the rise of shadow IT is becoming ever more common.

Cloud Centre of Excellence - Digital Transformation with the Cloud

Building a Cloud Centre of Excellence Model

By Fuad Uddin, Director, Altiatech • 16 Mar, 2021

Having a Cloud Centre of Excellence team can help organisations embrace cloud technology on a larger scale. Helping them improve the changes in culture, governance, security and expenditure across the business.

What is Direct Routing with Microsoft Teams?.

Microsoft Teams Direct Routing - Improve Your Internal AND External Communication

By Emily Wijeyesinghe, Marketing Executive, Altiatech • 02 Feb, 2021

Are you using Microsoft Teams to its full capability? Microsoft Teams with Direct Routing is an enterprise voice solution that offers a simple and cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Calling Plans.

First Timer’s Guide: How to Conduct a Compliant Migration

By Tom Gawczynski, Director, Solution Engineering, AvePoint • 08 Dec, 2020

Every year more and more organisations set to embark on a cloud migration journey. With advice on how to navigate a compliant migration, learn our three core steps towards a successful journey.

Office 365 Backup Retention Policy: 3 Things You Need to Know!

By Spenser Bullock, Solution Engineer, AvePoint • 24 Nov, 2020

Due to the issues of managing high data volume, ensuring data retention is critical for organisations. To make sure that there is organisational data retention, an Office 365 retention policy must be implemented to protect important information from being lost.