Power concentration in software for councils

A small group of companies is beginning to dominate areas of the local authority software market.

Companies that have achieved a strong position within key sectors of the market include Anite, Capita, Civica, ESRI, Mapinfo and Northgate Information Systems, according to data collected by the Society of IT Management (Socitm) for its latest Index of Application Software Index.

The survey covers details of software used by 343 local authorities - 78 per cent of the total in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, alongside information for 33 fire authorities, 28 police forces and 35 housing associations.

But despite the consolidation in the market, said survey editor Brian Westcott, there is still plenty of choice for local authorities, in particular for software such as payroll and general ledger systems that are not specific to local government.

There are five suppliers of council tax software with a greater than one per cent market share and six of school admin systems, the report found.

In newer areas consolidation is still at an early stage, so that the top four content management suppliers account for just 39 per cent of the local authority market - although this is up from 37 per cent in 2006 and 31 per cent in 2005, indicating that rationalisation has already started in this sector too, he said.

The survey also indicates in-house software development is mostly limited to maintenance of older software and development of less well-established applications such as committee administration and waste management, or relatively simple applications that can be administered using spreadsheets or Lotus Notes.