Compliance Management Systems are the hidden legal services market in the UK. Analysing this £1bn+ market involves a detailed examination of over 400 suppliers over many decades. Firms excelling here come from many backgrounds and do not fit categorisation easily. Some are law firms, some insurance backed, some from other professional backgrounds, but most are simply driven by the desire to help businesses cope with the red tape that's everywhere nowadays from HR to safety, tax and procurement. This is not a simple outsourcing B2B sector, but it is one that regularly provides all sizes of business with cost effective and supported systems to make managing their compliance risk easier. These are the legal services 'fence-at-the-top-of-the-hill' suppliers (not the ambulance chasers). They're not new, risky or start-ups - they've been around for decades and in many cases are very substantial businesses. It is no accident now that 9 of the top 20 employment law services businesses in the UK, for example, come from this market, not law firms.

Extracting the lessons from software developers, consultancies, surveyors, insurers, publishers, certification and procurement specialists, trainers and even some lawyers shows a revelatory picture.

These are the firms that clients seek out to provide specialist, usually fixed fee, often software backed, often on-site, regulatory management services. Dispute avoidance and prevention is the aim, not dispute resolution or cheaper management.

Many of the suppliers have scale, many remain independent and you will not understand this market and its opportunities by comparing a handful of metrics for a few listed companies. This is not a low cost business processing outsourcing market reliant on offshoring - quite the reverse, this is locally delivered talent delivering bespoke and often highly IT literate systems.

The market overall is mapped with unique insights and long term financial disciplines spanning several business cycles. Projections to 2020 show a strong recession resistant market at full steam.

Sectors are explored in detail including:
HSE Compliance Management Systems
Regulatory Consultancies
Mid-Market Employee Relations Firms
Safety Technology Developers
Food Safety

Each sector shows growth and profitability benchmarks. The scope for the market and its sectors to grow from existing profit and new business is examined. New entrants and barriers to entry are set out and compared, with break even and investment horizons for start-ups explored. Leading players such as the top 10 are mapped as well as the chasing pack of the next 5 suppliers with links to their sites or specific analysis reports for them. A summary for each sector of "what good looks like" pulls all the benchmarks together to help with strategic planning and putting performance, planning and ambition in context.

Leading firms such as Peninsula, Santia, Mentor, Croner, Citation, ArkWorkplace, Ellis Whittam, SAI, NSF, Alcumus, Rivo, WarwickIC, ECA, Adviserplus, ELAS, Markel/Abbey, DAS, BM Trada and IHS are all brands that have established solid positions. There are dozens in the wings making niche and distinctive impressions on the market too. Recent M&A actiivty has seen £185m invested in Citation, Santia and Alcumus merge and Peninsula make a bid for Croner which is being reviewed by the CMA.

To understand this market and its potential, this unique report draws on the experience of authors who have senior management backgrounds in the industry. They focus on the benchmarks that tell you the character of a firm and the market sector; they draw out the real numbers to watch and measure yourself, your plans and your challenges by.

There will come a time - soon - when you have to know whether the interviewee was interviewing you or the other way around? Why some futurists say one thing and do another? Whether the recruitment feedback is realistic? Or maybe simply whether doing what you want to in the next 9 months is really going to take 3 years and either half as much or twice as much again.

Here's the place the professionals start. It's where they get their facts straight. Now you can too.