As the world undergoes significant technological disruption and global turmoil, the governments around the world are facing the challenging task of striking a balance between leveraging digital opportunities and managing associated risks. The current climate presents a unique opportunity for governments to shape the future of digital governance. In this context, government CIOs need to showcase that their digital investments are strategic, rather than merely tactical and that they are focused on improving service delivery and core mission impacts.
To aid public sector leaders in accelerating their transformation efforts and preparing for the post-digital government era, research firm – Gartner has identified the top 10 government technology trends for 2023. These trends can serve as a guide for government entities in maintaining an unwavering focus on mission objectives.
Top technology trends for government CIOs in 2023
- Link adaptive security to digital objectives
By 2025, it is estimated that 75% of government CIOs will have direct responsibility for security outside of IT, which includes operational and mission-critical technology environments. The convergence of enterprise data, privacy, supply chain, cyber-physical systems (CPS), and the cloud, necessitates an integrated security approach.
Therefore, CIOs should align adaptive security measures with broader digital innovation, transformation, national security, and resilience objectives.
2. Cloud-based modernization for resilience
Governments are feeling the pressure to modernize their IT infrastructure and applications to deliver more resilient services by dismantling legacy, isolated systems, and data stores. To achieve this, CIOs can adopt adaptive sourcing strategies that leverage “as-a-service” delivery models to complement their internal resources and prioritize business needs.
Gartner predicts that over 75% of governments will utilize hyperscale cloud service providers to run over 50% of their workloads by 2025.
3. Increasing demand for sovereign Cloud
Growing global uncertainty and concerns about data privacy and government overreach have led to an increased demand for sovereign clouds. Governments want to minimize the exposure of their data and infrastructure to external jurisdictions and foreign governments.
By 2025, solutions developed on low-code application platforms will replace over 35% of government legacy applications and will be maintained by fusion teams.
4. Rise in popularity of Hyperautomation
Hyperautomation initiatives are becoming increasingly popular in the public sector as they enable the delivery of connected and seamless citizen services by supporting business and IT processes. Gartner forecasts that by 2026, 60% of government organizations will prioritize business process automation, a significant increase from 35% in 2022.
To achieve digital transformation and optimize operational costs, CIOs must align automation initiatives with current priorities.
5. Improved AI adoption for decision intelligence
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) for decision intelligence offers governments the ability to make rapid, accurate, and early decisions at scale.
Gartner forecasts that by 2024, around 60% of government investments in AI and data analytics will directly influence real-time operational decisions and outcomes.
To prepare for the widespread adoption of AI, CIOs need to ensure that data is accessible at decision points and establish effective governance principles.
6. Growth of data sharing as a program
As the demand for value-driven data and analytics grows, ad hoc data sharing efforts among agencies and departments are no longer adequate. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2023, 50% of government organizations will implement formal accountability structures for data sharing, including standards for data structure, quality, and timeliness.
To ensure the success of data-sharing initiatives, CIOs must prioritize value-added and mission objectives.
7. Increased focus on total experience (TX)
By 2026, using government total experience (TX) approaches can reduce confusion in government processes by 90% and increase satisfaction for both customers and employees by 50%. TX combines traditionally separate disciplines like customer experience, employee experience, and user experience to improve government services.
CIOs can improve experiences by mapping and redesigning citizen and employee journeys.
8. Rise in digital identity ecosystems
According to Gartner, by 2024, more than one-third of national governments will provide mobile-based identity wallets to citizens. As digital identity ecosystems continue to emerge, governments are expected to ensure trust, innovation, and adoption across sectors and borders.
For this, governments must make high-assurance digital identity easily accessible and relevant to diverse target groups of end-users and service providers.
9. Increased focus on Case Management as a Service (CMaaS)
According to Gartner, the integration of government services relies on creating composable case management solutions that can be shared across programs, verticals, and government levels. By 2024, agencies using composable case management will be capable of implementing new features 80% faster than their peers.
Government CIOs should emphasize how composable case management can lead to better outcomes, improved collaboration, and program integration.
10. Increased adoption of composable government applications
Governments can modernize their IT infrastructure by adopting a composable architecture that breaks down legacy, siloed systems, and data stores. A modular approach to application architecture, coupled with automation and machine learning advancements, can lead to continuous improvement and modernization.
Government CIOs need to consider the impact of the technology trends mentioned above and use this knowledge to justify investments that can improve business capabilities, and help in achieving leadership priorities, and in building a more future-proof government organization.
Source: Gartner
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