Revealed: the public sector's 150 highest-earning tech suppliers

Last year over 5,000 companies supplied the public sector with technology. But some really moved the needle, earning millions of pounds each year from the government. Who are they?

Meet the Tech Titans: Tussell’s list of the top 150 technology suppliers by public sector revenue in calendar 2021. The list includes industry leaders like Capita, BT, Atos, Capgemini and Fujitsu, as well as plenty of new entrants and even some up-and-coming SMEs.

Our latest report - powered by Tussell’s market intelligence platform - analyses the role of the Tech Titans in the government’s procurement of ICT, and what it means for their customers, partners and competitors.

The Tech Titans account for nearly 90% of the IT market

Of the £12.6 billion spent directly by public bodies with IT suppliers in 2021, £11.3 billion - or 89% - went to the 150 Tech Titans. The remaining £1.3 billion was split among a long tail of 5,298 other IT suppliers.

While their aggregate market share has remained stable since 2018, there has been plenty of change in their ranking, with some companies slipping down the list and others rising rapidly. The exception is Capita, which has remained the largest Tech Titan by revenue in each year since 2018.

NHS is a growing source of revenue for the Tech Titans

Although the Tech Titans’ market share has been steady since 2018, the split of their public sector revenue by source has not remained static.

Between 2018 and 2021, the NHS’s share of the Tech Titans’ revenue has increased - from 10% to 14% - while Local Government has fallen steadily, from 20% to 14%. Assuming this trend continues, in 2022 the NHS will overtake Local Government as the second biggest source of public sector revenue for the Tech Titans.

Big departments are aligned to specific companies

Unsurprisingly, the largest ministerial departments and executive agencies by ICT spend - HMRC, DWP and MOD - rely heavily on the biggest Tech Titans. For HMRC it’s Capgemini and Fujitsu; for DWP it’s Atos, and for the MOD it’s Leidos.

If your goal is to sell to these big end-customers, it’s essential to know which of the Tech Titans you either need to partner with or challenge.

The Tech Titans are effective at leveraging frameworks to win new business

Using Tussell’s framework analytics, we found that in 2021 alone the Tech Titans were awarded contracts worth £2.5 billion via framework agreements. This represented 34% of their total contract award value that year.

The biggest framework by volume of contracts awarded to the Tech Titans was the Technology Products and Services framework, from which they called-off at least 462 times. In contrast, the biggest framework by the value of contracts awarded was Technology Services, with call-offs in total worth £813 million.

What this all means

The 150 Tech Titans account for an overwhelming share of the public sector IT market. If you’re trying to grow in this market it’s essential that you know who they are, where they’re strong, and how they win business.

To break into the Tech Titans club you need to level the playing field with the big incumbents. How? Through the power of information. Use market intelligence to:

• Discover who is buying the services you’re selling;

• Scan the horizon for contracts in your sweet spot that are coming up for renewal;

• Assess which frameworks are worth the hassle of getting on to;

• Identify the influencers you need to build relationships with to win business in the future.

You can read the full report - for free - via our website.

This blog was originally authored by Gus Tugendhat, Founder of Tussell.