AI and Analytics Lead the Charge in Transforming Public Sector Services
Gartner, Inc. has unveiled its latest analysis of digital government services, highlighting six technologies poised to revolutionize the public sector within the next five years. The report spotlights digital employee experience (DEX), AI code assistants, generative AI (GenAI), generative design AI, predictive analytics, and workstyle analytics as key drivers of transformation.
“These cutting-edge technologies are set to bridge the innovation gap in government services,” says Daniel Snyder, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner. “As digital service delivery remains a cornerstone of government transformation, these advancements will be crucial in aligning technological innovation with strategic objectives and evolving citizen expectations.”
Snyder emphasizes that the adoption of these technologies will empower government CIOs to accelerate digital innovation, ensuring public services keep pace with the rapidly changing needs of modern society.This Hype Cycle for Digital Government Services presents innovative and emerging technologies and practices essential for governments to implement and mature digital transformation initiatives that ultimately lead to improved business outcomes.
Hype Cycle for Digital Government Services, 2024
Source: Gartner (September 2024)
Digital Employee Experience
Through 2027, multidisciplinary digital workplace teams that blend business and technology roles will be 50% more likely to deliver positive outcomes than those formed by IT alone.
DEX strategies use experience best practices, such as personas, journey mapping and voice of the employee, to boost digital dexterity, attract and retain valuable talent, and help employees deliver against business outcomes. A holistic, coordinated approach to DEX across IT and non-IT partners can minimize digital friction, reduce silos and maximize workforce digital dexterity and well-being. Workers who say that their relationship with IT involves more than break or fix support are twice as likely to recommend their organization as a good place to work.
“Ultimately, a DEX strategy empowers government employees to adopt new ways of working by minimizing technology friction, supporting meaningful adoption, applying usage and performance metrics, and making ongoing adjustments,” said Snyder.
AI Code Assistants
AI code assistants, integrated into developer tools, use pretrained models to interact with software developers through natural language and code snippets. They generate, analyze, debug, fix, refactor code, create documentation and translate code between languages. These assistants can be customized to an organization’s specific code base and documentation, which is key for government entities from the local to federal levels dependent on specific data to their region.
“AI code assistants, unlike their predecessors, enhance developer velocity and expedite problem-solving by explaining and debugging code issues,” said Snyder.
Because of this, Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of enterprise software engineers will use AI code assistants, up from less than 10% in early 2023.
Generative AI
Business focus is shifting from excitement around foundation models to use cases that drive ROI. Most GenAI implementations are currently low-risk and internal. With the rapid progress of productivity tools and AI governance practices, organizations will be deploying GenAI for more critical use cases in industry verticals and scientific discovery. In the longer term, GenAI-enabled conversational interfaces will facilitate technology commercialization, democratizing AI and other technologies.
Generative Design AI
Generative design AI is a technology that utilizes AI to autonomously generate design options based on parameters and constraints specified by the user. This AI uses algorithms to iterate rapidly through numerous variations, optimizing designs to achieve the best possible outcomes while adhering to predefined goals, which are often a key component of government services, and improving efficiency in the design process.
The technology already exists as feature-level support for user experience designers and front-end developers, such as intelligent design suggestions, and will transition rapidly to full digital product design and front-end development capabilities.
Predictive Analytics in Government
Predictive analytics in government exploits machine learning, modeling and simulation. It uses internal and external data to inform public policy development, optimize government processes and improve real-time decision making. The responsible and ethical use of predictive analytics in government requires care and due diligence to limit the impact of biases inherent in all datasets.
Swift, accurate, safe decisions are critical to outcomes in all branches of government. Predictive approaches allow consequences of decisions to be considered ahead of time and enable plans to be adapted accurately as needed. This delivers better outcomes at lower risk than a reactive approach. To maintain the public’s trust and ensure accountability, it should be deployed transparently.
Workstyle Analytics
Through 2027, IT leaders who align digital workplace investments with current and desired levels of maturity and overall digital ambitions will reduce the waste associated with untimely and unsuitable activities by 50%.
Workstyle analytics (WSA) is a discipline that synthesizes IT, HR and business data about how employees work to understand and optimize the complex relationship between technology investments, employee experience and business outcomes.
To drive better business and workforce insights and outcomes, organizations must aggregate and analyze data to understand how technology investments impact employees and business results, as budgets and spending are foundational to digital government services.
Gartner clients can read more in “Hype Cycle for Digital Government Services, 2024.”
Additional government trends will be presented during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, the world’s most important conference for CIOs and other IT executives. Gartner analysts and attendees will explore the technology, insights and trends shaping the future of IT and business, including AI, business transformation, cybersecurity, customer experience, data analytics, executive leadership and more. Follow news and updates from the conferences on X using #GartnerSYM, and on the Gartner Newsroom.
Upcoming dates and locations for Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo include:
September 9-11 2024 | Gold Coast, Australia
October 21-24 2024 | Orlando, FL
October 28-30 2024 | Tokyo, Japan
November 4-7 2024 | Barcelona, Spain
November 11-13 2024 | Kochi, India
