GUEST COLUMN
6 Government IT trends to watch in 2023 After driving a great jump in digitalization in the past three years, IT leaders working in government will have to figure out how to maintain stable and sustained evolution from 2023 onward.
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he report E-Government Survey 2022: The Future of Digital Government, from the United Nations, highlights that “Determining where to focus is essential for leaders with finite resources looking to truly move the needle on experience—and to promote critical outcomes linked to those efforts.” With uncertain times ahead, Liferay, who has been helping public sector entities on their path to digitalization for more than 15 years, identified the main challenges CIOs in government will face in 2023:
Closing the Gap Between Customer Experience and Citizen Experience Citizens are accustomed to great consumer experiences, and the success of public sector operations is increasingly linked to their ability to provide similar experiences. In fact, the user experience will be a critical KPI in 2023’s digital economy when it comes to providing new government service delivery models. McKinsey & Co., in the article The Global Case for Customer Experience in Government, observes that “By investing in customer experience programs, we’ve found that agencies can address the priorities that matter to every government leader.” In this context, it is worth mentioning that the public sector still has to improve in terms of usability and web design. Often, government sites are not attractive and have a poor user experience. To improve on that, IT teams will have to invest in user-centered design and define consistent design systems that work across all channels.
Turning Complex Legacy Ecosystems into Fully Integrated Environments Given the broad range of services, they must offer citizens, government CIOs often have to manage multiple systems that each have their own technology stack and database. Meanwhile, government employees must expend extra effort to navigate these siloed systems, which mirror the silos in government departments themselves. To bridge this gap between citizen expectations and
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To deal with budget constraints, government CIOs are looking for ways to leverage the systems and solutions they already have
budget limitations, public sector organizations are using technologies like digital experience platforms to quickly bring a usable, personalized face to their services, while tackling systems modernization over time. According to Gartner, 43% of Governments will invest in Integration Technologies/APIs in 2023.
Driving Innovation with Reduced Budgets Even though worldwide IT spending is expected to grow 5.1% in 2023, budgets in government will most likely get tighter due to the effects of the global recession expected this year. Doing more with less will be a strong motto for leaders in IT even as digital transformation initiatives for the public sector increase in importance. To deal with budget constraints, government CIOs are looking for ways to leverage the systems and solutions they already have. As new technology acquisitions will be subject to budgetary approval, “this will motivate governments
J U N E 2023
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