According to technological research and consulting firm Gartner, there are six new technologies that will help transform digital governmental services within the next five years.

These include digital employee experience (DEX), artificial intelligence (AI) code assistants, generative AI (GenAI), generative design AI, predictive analytics, and workstyle analytics, as outlined by the research firm’s latest Hype Cycle for Digital Government Services 2024.

“Delivering services digitally continues to be a priority in government transformation plans,” explained Daniel Snyder, senior director analyst.

“These technologies will help government CIOs bridge the gap between digital innovation goals and executing against strategy objectives.

“Collectively, they will be a crucial element for executives in aligning technology innovation to mission outcomes to keep pace with growing citizen expectations.”

Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics in government utilises machine learning, modelling, and simulation. It can use internal and external data to inform public policy development, optimise government processes, and improve real-time decision making.

That said, the responsible and ethical use of predictive analytics in government requires care and due diligence to limit biases inherent in all datasets, as Gartner has stipulated.

To maintain the public’s trust and ensure accountability, it should be deployed transparently.

Workstyle Analytics
Workstyle analytics (WSA) is a discipline that brings together IT, HR, and business data about how employees work to understand and optimise the complex relationship between technology investments, employee experience, and business outcomes.

It’s been predicted that, 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%.

Digital Employee Experience
Digital employee experience is how employees interact with the digital tools while at work, and organisational efforts to improve that experience.

A holistic, coordinated approach to digital employee experience across IT and non-IT partners can minimise digital friction, the firm noted, as well as reduce silos, and maximise workforce digital dexterity and well-being.

“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,” Snyder said.

Generative AI
Following the initial explosion around generative artificial intelligence, Gartner noted that business focus is now shifting away from excitement around foundation models to use cases that drive ROI.

With the rapid progress of productivity tools and AI governance practices, organisations will be deploying GenAI for more critical use cases in industry verticals and scientific discovery, the research firm outlined.

Generative Design AI
Generative design AI is a technology that utilises AI to autonomously generate design options based on parameters and constraints specified by the user.

The AI uses algorithms to iterate rapidly through numerous variations, optimising designs to achieve 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 (UX) designers and front-end developers, such as intelligent design suggestions, and will transition rapidly to full digital product design and front-end development capabilities, Garter forecasts.

AI Code Assistants
AI code assistants, which are integrated into developer tools, use pretrained models to interact with software developers through natural language and code snippets.

They generate, analyse, debug, fix, and refactor code, among other things, and can be customised to an organisation’s specific code base and document, which is key for government entities from the local to central 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,” added 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.

Recommended reading

• New Gov AI Action Plan Aims to Transform UK Economy
• Intellectual Property Office Files First Patent With New Digital Service
• How Do UK SME Bosses Feel About a Change of Government?

Whitehall’s Digital Skills Gap
Gartner’s outlining of the six new technologies to have transformational effects for government digital services comes during a digital skills gap within the UK government’s centre.

For instance, around this time last year, a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that “a lack of digital expertise means that Whitehall is unable to genuinely transform its services, and can only make incremental upgrades.”

According to government estimates at the time, the number of digital, data, and technology professionals in the civil service was around 4.5%. The Committee noted that the number is less than half it needs to be when compared to an equivalent industry average of between 8% and 12%.

However, under the new Labour government, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will expand in both scope and size to bring experts in data, digital, and AI from the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) and the Incubator for AI (i.AI), in a bid to help unite efforts in the digital transformation of public services under one department.