Gartner has detailed the top five 2024 government technology trends poised to shape the future of public sector services. Gartner content suggests that the trends can help public sector leaders deliver better, faster, and increasingly more cost-effective citizen services.
"The escalating global turmoil, continual cyber threats and the adoption of AI are leading to increasing pressure on governments to meet citizen demands faster and more creatively than ever before," Todd Kimbriel, VP Analyst at Gartner, stated. He urged government CIOs to explore sustainable and scalable technology to meet modern, accessible and resilient service demands.
The top trends identified by Gartner are Adaptive Security, Digital Identity Ecosystems, AI for Decision Intelligence, Digital Platform Agility, and Programmatic Data Management. Each trend will influence government organisations in different ways and provide insights to guide investment strategies and improvements.
Adaptive Security focuses on augmenting, not replacing, staff with multiagent AI in threat detection and incident response. By 2028, Gartner predicts such AI implementations will rise from 5% to 70%. "Government CIOs and leaders have to overcome any lingering resistance to the adoption of adaptive security by linking its value to broader objectives such as digital innovation, transformation, national security, and operational resilience," noted Kimbriel.
The scope of Digital Identity is growing into ecosystems that integrate user authentication, unique citizen or organisation identifiers, and credential verification. It is projected that by 2026, at least 500 million smartphone users will regularly use a digital identity wallet built on distributed ledger technology for verifiable claims. Gartner encourages government CIOs to strengthen their strategies by building on use cases and partnerships.
In the area of AI for Decision Intelligence, Gartner predicts that over 70% of government agencies will employ AI by 2026 to bolster human administrative decision-making. Kimbriel suggested government CIOs should implement AI adoption and governance policies across their organisations, focusing on desired outcomes for improved service delivery.
The fourth trend, Digital Platform Agility, will see government organisations adopt platform-based solutions such as industry cloud and low-code application platforms for quicker business capability deployment. Gartner recommends a multicloud strategy to maximise the opportunities platform solutions present and manage the complexities of incremental modernisation.
Finally, Programmatic Data Management addresses the systematic and scalable approach to data use for decision-making and planning. With an increase in government organisations prioritising investment in business process automation from 35% in 2022 up to 60% by 2026, the quality and efficiency of data at scale continue to be paramount. Kimbriel emphasised the role of government CIOs in improving the rules and structures governing data.