Opportunities and sequencing
The suppliers, products and customers discussed in the survey are in the landscape database, with known spend and sources. The graph shows how they connect.
This page gives a consolidated, cross-sector view of the strongest CIC-aligned opportunities. Opportunities are tiered by the combined case: spend, lock-in, alternative maturity, regulatory complexity, human-dimension benefit, willingness of likely partners. The sequencing puts first the work that would give the CIC a delivery record and reusable components.
Two points apply to everything below.
- This is a broad overview and does not select first projects. The first concrete CIC engagements will be smaller and more contained than anything described here.
- Tier-1 at “sector level” does not mean Tier-1 at CIC scale. Some Tier-1 opportunities are national programmes that would take a decade. In those the CIC would contribute components and argue for the work, and would not deliver them directly.
Tier-1 opportunities
These have the strongest combined case in the survey and the largest realistic benefit at sector level.
1. Adult and children’s social-care case management
Two-vendor lock-in (Liquidlogic, Mosaic), dated incumbents, well-understood data model, modest regulatory complexity, willing council partners likely to be available. CIC role: direct engagement plausible at the level of one or two anchor councils; multi-council collaborative effort over time. Health-and-care chapter →
2. Council planning: complement and extend BOPS
Existing open programme (Open Digital Planning, BOPS) with willing councils and government backing, and mature data standards. CIC role: direct contribution, complementary tooling, validation services, integration components. This is the strongest single near-term CIC opportunity in local government. Local-government chapter →
3. Council and housing-association housing management
Single-supplier dominance (NEC Housing in council; mixed market in HA), products that users often describe as dated, well-defined statutory returns, and regulatory pressure (Awaab’s Law, building safety, TSMs) that will lead many organisations to replace systems. CIC role: multi-buyer collaborative engagement plausible; component contributions could start straight away. Housing chapter →
4. Council waste and environmental services
Tractable and low risk, with citizen-facing components that can be delivered quickly. The most suitable sector in which to demonstrate the CIC’s model in local government. CIC role: direct engagement at single-council scale, with an early first deliverable. Local-government chapter →
5. Council and infrastructure highways and streetworks
Statutory data formats (NSG, EToN), well-defined integrations, ageing incumbents. Fits alongside the CIC’s other local-government work. CIC role: direct engagement at single-authority scale, with good potential for reuse by other authorities. Transport chapter →
6. Fire-and-rescue station and asset management
The strongest small-scale opportunity in the survey. The risk is low, several FRSs are likely to be willing partners, and there is no regulatory regime equivalent to clinical safety. CIC role: direct single-FRS pilot, then replication. Fire chapter →
7. Component contributions to GDS shared platforms and HMCTS digital services
These are already publicly built with an open architecture, so the work consists of additions, particularly form-design tooling, accessibility, content publishing, and parts of One Login. CIC role: direct contribution; contributions would be widely reused. Central-government chapter →
Tier-2 opportunities
These are viable but harder. Each entry notes the conditions under which it would become Tier-1.
8. Open digital-evidence management for policing
The clearest sovereignty case in policing: body-worn video and case files on US-vendor cloud. This is beyond the CIC’s scale on its own. Becomes Tier-1 when: a national programme picks it up, with the CIC as a contributing engineering partner. Policing chapter →
9. Probation case management modernisation
Structurally similar to social care, and some platform components could be shared. Becomes Tier-1 when: social-care case-management work has produced reusable components that can be configured for probation. Justice chapter →
10. Council customer-contact, forms, and accessibility tooling
Reusable across councils, with low statutory complexity, and close to the CIC’s existing engineering skills. Becomes Tier-1 when: a council partnership or LGA-led effort provides anchor demand. Local-government chapter →
11. Council GIS migration off ESRI
Mature open alternatives (QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer); public bodies in other countries have made this migration. Becomes Tier-1 when: a council or combined authority commits as a lead partner. Local-government chapter →
12. Open RMS for policing
Tractable as a multi-force collaborative effort. Becomes Tier-1 when: at least one force commits as anchor and the police-funding structure permits multi-force IT investment. Policing chapter →
13. Smaller registry-agency modernisation
HMPO, DVSA: following the DWP and HMRC pattern of in-house capability-building. Becomes Tier-1 when: a willing agency partner is found and the contract cycle aligns. Central-government chapter →
14. Open community-mental-health EHR
More tractable than acute EPR replacement; less safety-critical than primary care. Becomes Tier-1 when: a single trust commits as anchor pilot with strong clinical-safety governance. Health chapter →
15. Open horizontal-layer components: case management, scheduling, identity, document management
The shared-platform thesis applied at component level. Becomes Tier-1 when: CIC sector engagements have produced reusable components and a stewardship model has been agreed. Shared-platforms thesis →
Tier-3 / hands-off
These are outside what the CIC can realistically do. Sovereignty concerns may still apply, and are addressed through procurement, governance or advocacy.
Hands-off cases
NHS acute EPRs. A failed replacement would put patients at risk; open alternatives are not mature for UK acute use. Procurement-side levers only: data portability, exit clauses, audit rights.
HMRC tax core, DWP legacy benefits. Both are being modernised internally, and replacement is not the relevant question.
Cross-departmental ERP (Oracle Cloud, Workday). Sunk costs and operational risk make replacement impractical post-migration. Procurement-side intervention only.
Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace at scale. Not a realistic CIC replacement target. Only open alternatives for specific uses are in scope.
Live emergency-services dispatch. Operational risk to public safety is too high for replacement programmes.
Operational defence, intelligence, signalling, ATC, weapons platforms. Out of scope under the methodology.
Examination-board systems mid-cycle, council-tax billing mid-cycle, in-flight clinical-safety case patient cohorts. Fixed operational cycles make replacement programmes risky at these points.
Sequencing
The order of work over the first three years and beyond.
Year 1: pilots
Single-organisation pilots in the lowest-risk sectors: fire-and-rescue station and asset management, council waste or streetworks, and a small open component for a GDS-pattern service. The aim is public, well-engineered delivery that shows the CIC can do what it says.
Year 2: replication and first multi-buyer work
Year-1 pilots are extended to additional buyers. The first multi-buyer collaborative engagement (housing or planning) and the first case-management work in social care or probation begin. Reusable components from sector-specific engagements start to accumulate.
Year 3 onwards: shared components
Components from sector engagements are combined into shared-platform offerings (case management, scheduling, document management). The aim is for other public bodies and partners to adopt and help maintain them, with the CIC as one engineering contributor.
What the CIC does not do
Acute-EPR replacement. Tax-system replacement. Federated-data-platform construction at national scale. Microsoft displacement at scale. Anything safety-critical without years of preparatory governance work. Anything that requires hundreds of engineers.
The CIC’s role, summarised
What the CIC is positioned to do
The CIC can deliver open replacements for individual public-sector products in sectors where the regulatory bar is modest and willing buyers exist, and contribute components to long-term shared-platform work. It supports every system it builds for as long as the client needs, and documents the system and trains the client’s staff throughout, so that more of the day-to-day support can move in-house at a pace the client chooses. A delivery record would also give the CIC’s wider sovereignty arguments more weight.
It cannot deliver national-programme-scale work alone, or replace long-established commercial estates without partners.