Things seem to have quietened down on the educational IT front now that BETT is over. With the half-term holiday over and a few weeks before the Education Show, suppliers seems to be taking stock and focusing either on selling to those parts of the sector who still have unspent funds (very few) or planning their 2006/7 sales campaign.
For companies supplying the educational IT sector, BETT reinforced the fact that spending has risen by almost 50% and is now past £420m. This rate of increase is unsustainable and it seems likely that at some point in the not-too-distant future the government will have to reduce these increases substantially. Quite how it will do this will be a tricky political question, one made more difficult as the full impact of the Children’s Act begins to bite in schools and LEAs. Add to this the uncertain impact of BBC jam and the end of e-Learning Credits and we think that the IT market will be a lot tougher over the next 18-24 months with the possibility of a significant consolidation in the software sector.
