Strategic technologies in government

 

Efficiency is important in both the public and private sectors, and there are many technological trends that are changing how organisations are structured and the kinds of technology they’re incorporating into daily operations.

Investments in IT

According to recent Gartner research, the strategic trends that CIOs in the Australian government are pushing for are a response to the need for more fully optimised information technology. Rick Howard, research vice president at Gartner, explained that the old silos systems and organisational ways of doing things have been holding back the government from progressing into the future.

“In the digital service economy, government must make strategic investments in IT or risk perpetuating suboptimal business and service models that are financially unsustainable in the long term,” said Mr. Howard.

He went on to explain that risk and cost are closely associated with apprehension and delay when adopting new technologies.

“Government CIOs who are too slow to adopt the technology innovations that are transforming private sector service industries will increase business risk and cost, while compromising the mission of their organisations.”

Top trends 

Gartner predicts that spending by federal, national and local governments on technology products and services is predicted to grow to $430.1 billion in 2016 and $476.1 billion by 2020. According to this latest Gartner report, trending key strategic technologies in government are the digital workplace, the citizen e-ID, the internet of things and smart machines.

The digital workplace reflects a growing number of digitally literate staff members at all levels of government, with this strategy aimed at boosting engagement by promoting a more mobile work environment.

Citizen e-ID and IoT

Having a digital identity cuts down on in-person security checks that often waste resources, offering easier access to documents – this is the future of the citizen e-ID. The internet of things (IoT) architecture allows for an entire ecosystem of digital applications for communication and data analysis.

In a recent Accenture study on driving business strategy with the internet of things, it was found that of those surveyed, 87 per cent of executives think the internet of things will provide long-term job growth, while-57 per cent of C-suite executives see it driving long-term revenue growth.

As companies move away from silos of information, to a integrated setup, fast and reliable access to documents and data will be essential – a digital citizen e-ID ensures an end-to-end security solution for governments.

Smart machines may present a threat to those who work in jobs able to be automated, but these machines will do the work once thought of as only being able to be done by humans – which will save money for many organisations.

In an IDC white paper titled “Bridging the Information Worker Productivity Gap: New Challenges and Opportunities for IT”, information collected from a global survey of 1000 workers and IT professionals was used to analyse areas of growth.

The study found that wasted time cost $19,732 per IT worker per year – if a company had 1000 employees, this loss of productivity would work out to be the equivalent of hiring an impressive 213 new employees.

The white paper also found that collaborative tools were proving to be a big advantage when it came to the time-efficient deployment of Infomation Technology work. Reducing paper documents was found by the study to be a significant way to reduce wasted time.

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