Government CIOs need to consider the effects of technology and how these can reshape their respective organisations, according to Gartner.
In light of this, the global analyst firm identified the top 10 government technology trends for 2023 that can guide public sector leaders in accelerating transformation as they prepare for post-digital government and a relentless focus on mission objectives.
According to Gartner, government tech leaders should have a clear understanding of these trends to justify investments aimed at enhancing business capabilities, meeting strategic objectives, and positioning the government for a more forward-thinking future.
“Not only is the current global turmoil and technological disruption putting pressure on governments to find a balance between digital opportunities and risks, it also presents solid opportunities to shape the next generation of digital government,” said Arthur Mickoleit, Director Analyst at Gartner. “Government CIOs must demonstrate their digital investments aren’t just tactical in nature as they continue to improve service delivery and core mission impacts.”
Here are the top technology trends in government for 2023:
- Adaptive security: By 2025, 75 percent of government CIOs are expected to be responsible for security beyond IT. CIOs should link adaptive security to broader objectives to support digital innovation, national security, resilience, and transformation.
- Cloud-based legacy modernisation: Leading governments are under pressure to modernise IT infrastructure and applications to ensure more resilient government services. CIOs can use adaptive sourcing strategies to identify areas where “as-a-service” delivery models augment internal resources and address business priorities.
- Sovereign cloud: There is growing demand for sovereign clouds as governments seek to limit exposure of data and infrastructure to external jurisdictions and foreign government access. By 2025, Gartner predicts that over 35 percent of government legacy applications will be replaced by solutions developed on low-code application platforms and maintained by fusion teams.
- Hyperautomation: According to Gartner, 60 percent of government organisations will prioritise business process automation by 2026. CIOs must align automation initiatives with current priorities to pursue digital transformation and optimise operational costs.
- AI for decision intelligence: By 2024, 60 percent of government AI and data analytics investments will directly impact real-time operational decisions and outcomes. CIOs must ensure data is available at points of decision and establish effective governance principles.
- Data sharing as a programme: By the end of 2023, Gartner predicts that 50 percent of government organisations will establish formal accountability structures for data sharing, including standards for data structure, quality, and timeliness. CIOs should focus on value-added and mission objectives when developing data-sharing initiatives.
- Total Experience (TX): By 2026, government TX approaches will reduce process ambiguity by 90 percent and increase satisfaction metrics for both CX and EX by 50 percent. CIOs can reduce experience friction points by mapping, visualizing, and redesigning citizen and employee journeys.
- Digital identity ecosystems: Over a third of national governments are expected to offer citizens mobile-based identity wallets by 2024. To achieve this, governments must make high-assurance digital identity easy to obtain and relevant for diverse target groups of end users and service providers.
- Case Management as a Service (CMaaS): Agencies using composable case management are expected to implement new features 80 percent faster than their peers by 2024. CIOs should demonstrate how better outcomes, improved collaboration, or program integration can be attained.
- Composable government applications: Governments can achieve continuous improvement and modernisation by adopting a modular approach to application architecture and exploiting rapid advancements in automation and machine learning.
