AI, Adaptive Security, Digital Identity Among Top Government Technology Trends: Gartner

Research and consulting firm Gartner has identified the top five government technology trends for 2024 that can guide public sector leaders to deliver improved and cost-effective citizen services.

With rising global turmoil, cyber threats and artificial intelligence adoption putting pressure on governments, CIOs must find new ways to meet citizen demands for modern and accessible services by focusing on technology.

According to Gartner, government CIOs should consider the impact of the following technology trends to create a more future-ready government organisation.

Adaptive Security

Gartner predicts that by 2028, multiagent AI in threat detection and incident response will rise from 5% to 70% of AI implementations to augment staff. An adaptive security model merges and adjusts cybersecurity tools, techniques and talent to the changing threat landscape.

“Government CIOs and leaders need to overcome any lingering resistance to the adoption of adaptive security by linking its value to broader organisational objectives, such as digital innovation and transformation, national security objectives and operational resilience,” said Todd Kimbriel, VP analyst at Gartner.

Digital Identity Ecosystems

Digital identity in government is expanding into larger ecosystems that include user authentication, unique citizen or organisation identifiers, and credential verification, such as smartphone-based identity wallets. Gartner predicts that at least 500 million smartphone users will regularly make verifiable claims using a digital identity wallet built on distributed ledger technology by 2026.

According to Gartner, government CIOs can strengthen their digital identity strategy by building on use cases and partnerships that add greater value for citizens, government and businesses. They can shape these emerging ecosystems by asserting government’s role as a potential facilitator and regulator of digital identity.

AI For Decision Intelligence

Gartner predicts that more than 70% of government agencies will use AI to enhance human administrative decision-making by 2026. Machine learning, analytics and generative AI will mature over the next two years and combine into a suite of tools that will support improved government service delivery.

“These tools will need to be subject to careful governance, so it’s important government CIOs drive AI adoption and governance policies throughout the organisation,” said Kimbriel.

Digital Platform Agility

Government organisations are increasingly adopting platform-based solutions, such as industry cloud and low-code application platforms. This enables them to deploy business capabilities and address service delivery risks posed by legacy systems, and scale to citizen service demands.

Platform cloud-based solutions will open new opportunities for innovation and transformation of business processes in government organisations. According to Gartner, government CIOs should implement a multicloud strategy to maximise these opportunities and reduce the complexities of incremental modernisation.

Programmatic Data Management

Government leaders are demanding increased use of data for decision-making and planning. Programmatic data management is the systematic and scalable approach to enable enterprisewide use of data assets. According to Gartner, more than 60% of government organisations will prioritise investment in business process automation by 2026, up from 35% in 2022.

“Data remains the basis of decision-making in government, and the growing proliferation of AI re-emphasises the need for government CIOs to enhance the quality and efficiency of data at scale by improving the rules and structures that govern it,” said Kimbriel.