We provide SaaS technology that transforms employability and vocational training delivery. Our system has the content, configurability and workflows that enable providers to more efficiently deliver their contracts. We operate in the UK and Australia and our customers are mainly government prime contractors and their supply chains. We started in 2009 as MyWorkSearch Ltd and in 2016 rebranded to MWS Technology Ltd.
Our customers fall into five sectors: welfare to work (such as Maximus, Reed, Salvation Army), further education (such as Bromley, Manchester, South Essex colleges), vocational training (such as Capita, Key Training, Prevista), housing associations (such as Great Places, Midland Heart, Walsall) and outplacement (such as Birmingham City Council, Football Association, Royal Bank of Scotland). We have sales offices in the UK and Australia.
The ILP provided us with credibility in a sector where reputation and who else you have worked with really matters. Technology can be a sensitive area and in being innovative we are often the first to be advocating a particular approach. The mentors and contacts were very helpful on a handful of occasions when we needed guidance on a problem solving approach to take. Participation also reduced some of the mystique that can surround dealing with government. It helped us understand that we were genuinely welcomed and there were senior people who wanted us to prosper.
£272k
Just over £1m with at least 40% growth forecast this year
Yes. It helped us better understand public sector decision making as well as appreciate that we were welcome in the sector.
I've watched with interest our fellow ‘ILP'ers’ and have met many of them since to share ideas. We plan to move our technology beyond Europe and so I spent some time with one of the ILP companies that had already successfully done this. Very useful.
There are two aspects to this. There is how government can benefit on a larger scale from SMEs that offer something special and there is how government can encourage a greater number of SMEs to target and provide value and innovation to the public sector. Firstly, I think a lot of good things are already being done. I think each department should identify a couple of SMEs that are bringing something new and valuable and these organisations should get ministerial attention and consequent publicity. This will help those organisations sell more and also help other SMEs see that they are welcome and there are opportunities selling to the public sector. SMEs have now benefitted from several years of being encouraged to operate in the public sector. G-Cloud has been high profile and successful and should go from strength to strength. Perhaps senior civil servants above a certain grade can be encouraged to mentor one or two SMEs each year. This will help the SMEs better understand how to work in the public sector and foster in the civil servants a greater appreciation of entrepreneurial businesses and how to work with them.