As the dust settles on BETT 2023 and we start collecting our thoughts, we felt it worth sharing our immediate and initial feedback.
We were impressed by the many positive comments we received from schools, MATs and other groups supporting WhichMIS? – clearly, one central place for independent advice on the MIS world is much sought after.
We’ll be adding more information over the coming days, including interviews with senior executives from each of the main MIS players at the show, not to mention information on more MIS providers planning on entering the UK market.
For the past few years AI has been a hot topic (some might say a ‘buzz word’, along with Machine Learning), but many weren’t too sure what benefit it might bring.
This year we started to see how it could be used and how it might benefit schools on a day-to-day basis.
Bromcom were first out of the blocks, not only announcing ‘The UK’s first AI Powered MIS’ but demonstrating how it works on their stand at BETT. We were able to film Bromcom AI ‘live’ at their BETT stand and it looked impressive! AI was something also featured by Arbor, and they ran presentations on the subject for the duration of the event although we were unable to film a live demonstration whilst we were there.
It’s clearly something that Bromcom are focusing on quite heavily. Read the full press release here. We’ll be publishing demos of the functionality in the coming days.
Whilst talking of Bromcom and Arbor, both were mentioned in Schools Week on Friday, with the news that the Appeal Court had rejected all of United Learning’s counter claims.
As reported by Schools Week, the Appeal Court Judge, Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Coulson, stated that a “core principle” of procurement law was to ensure “equal treatment” between bidders. He continued by saying: “This principle is og heightened importance where one of the tendering parties is an incumbent provider. A tenderer cannot offer a price advantage in respect of a completely separate contract (potentially subject to a completely separate tender procedure).”
On his website, Brendan McGuirk, barrister for Bromcom stated: “The Court agreed with Bromcom that seeking to leverage its incumbency as a supplier of those services (Arbor) to other schools within the Trust violated procurement law.”
Ali Guryel, Founder and Executive Chairman of Bromcom commented that he was “pleased that the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s ruling, which has exposed that an offer of discount on a separate contract is unlawful when taken into consideration in the MIS market.”
According to Schools Week, United Learning didn’t comment, while a spokesperson for Arbor said that it “continues to hold itself to the highest ethical standards.”
If you want to read more, the full Court documents are here.
Stay posted for much more about BETT 2023 and what the MIS providers are up to in the coming days…
