Government digital businesses

Gartner: US government agencies falling behind digital businesses in other industries

A Gartner survey of more than 500 government CIOs shows that government agencies are falling behind other industries when it comes to planned investments in digital business initiatives. Just 17% of government CIOs say they’ll be increasing their investments, compared to 34% of CIOs in other industries.

What’s holding government agencies back? While Gartner notes that their CIOs demonstrate a clear vision for the potential of digital government and emerging technologies, almost half of those surveyed (45%) say they lack the IT and business resources required to execute. Other common barriers include lack of funding (39%), as well as a challenge organizations across all industries struggle with: culture and resistance to change (37%).

Another key challenge is the ability to scale digital initiatives, where government agencies lag by 5% against all other industries. To catch up, government CIOs see automation as a potential tool. This aligns with respondents’ views on 'game-changing' technologies for government. The top five in order are:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (27%)
  • Data analytics, including predictive analytics (22%)
  • Cloud (19%)
  • Internet of Things (7%)
  • Mobile, including 5G (6%)

Of the more than 500 government respondents in Gartner’s survey, 10% have already deployed an AI solution, 39% say they plan to deploy one within the next one to two years, and 36% intend to use AI to enable automation, scale of digital initiatives, and reallocation of human resources within the next two to three years.

Investing today for tomorrow's success

When it comes to increased investment this year (2019), BI and data analytics (43%), cyber and information security (43%), and cloud services and solutions (39%) top the tech funding list.

As previous and current digital government initiatives start to take hold, CIOs are seeing moderate improvements in their ability to meet the increasing demands and expectations of citizens. 65% of CIOs say that their current digital government investments are already paying off. A great example of this is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s use of BI and data analytics to modernize its Grants Dashboard.

Despite budget and cultural change challenges typically associated with digital government initiatives, make no mistake: many agencies are making great strides and are now competing or leading compared to other organizations and industries.

There’s never been a better time to invest in game changing technologies to both quickly catch up, and potentially take the lead.

Author: Rick Nelson

Source: Microstrategy

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