Digital transformation and AI: make your SME commitment work harder

From commitment to delivery

It asks bidders to propose a percentage of contract value for UK SMEs, identify their work packages or roles, and explain how participation will be managed and measured. ^[1]

By choosing SMEs for the specialist expertise they bring, both can widen participation while closing skills gaps and strengthening delivery.

The tender gives practical shape to the ambition we explored in The SME targets are set. Now make the capability count. Alongside departmental targets for direct SME spending, buyers are encouraging greater involvement through major suppliers. The MOD’s SME Commercial Pathway, for example, encourages buyers to seek SME participation targets and assess bidders’ supply chain plans. ^[2]

Put specialist expertise where it matters

The value of those partnerships depends on how well they match the work ahead. CGI’s research with UK decision-makers identifies continuing skills shortages in AI, cyber and data. ^[4] Closing those gaps takes a combination of technical expertise and an understanding of how the organisation works.

Process engineering and mapping help establish that understanding: how work moves between teams and systems, where decisions are made, which handovers cause delays and where exceptions need human judgement. Business analysts, process engineers and service designers can use that insight to identify worthwhile opportunities for automation and redesign the workflow around them.

Delivering the change then needs experience in the underlying technology. Data engineers and architects connect information across systems, build reliable pipelines and establish access controls. Software and integration engineers develop the APIs and connections between legacy applications, cloud platforms and new services. These are the foundations needed to overcome the data quality and integration barriers that can hold back AI adoption. ^[5]

For agentic AI, the process map helps define what an agent should do, which tools and data it needs, and when it should involve a person. Implementing that design calls for experience in retrieval-augmented generation, API integration, agent orchestration, evaluation and security. Cloud engineering, DevSecOps and monitoring help make the service deployable, supportable and reliable in operation.

A specialist SME can bring these disciplines together around a defined workflow or workstream. That gives the programme team access to people who can understand the process, engineer the solution and prepare it for live use. Change and service transition specialists then help embed new responsibilities, support arrangements and ways of working.

Involving that expertise early gives it greater influence over the result. Writing for techUK, CGI’s Sonya Anderson advocates early SME involvement, supported by bid evaluation, delivery governance and reporting. ^[6]

In both cases, clear responsibilities connect SME involvement to the work needed to deliver the programme.

Make the partnership count

At BeInspired, we bring together specialist consultants and multidisciplinary teams across Technology, Transformation and Growth.

We start with the outcomes you need to achieve, then identify and mobilise the specialist expertise to help you get there.

Whether you are commissioning a public sector programme or delivering it as a prime contractor, BeInspired can help you identify and mobilise the specialist expertise you need.

Talk to BeInspired about the expertise your next programme needs.

Specialist expertise. New perspectives. Proven delivery capability.

SME. Without compromise.