Anything-as-a-service, hyperautomation, digital identity among top government technology trends for 2022: Gartner

Anything as a service, creating identity ecosystems, and security are some of the topmost government-led technology trends that Gartner predicts will be the top priority for public-sector leaders in 2022.  

The research firm identified the top ten government technology trends that can provide value through easier scalability, efficiency and other positives for the public sector globally.  

Among these, some of the standout trends showed that almost 95% of new IT investments carried out by government agencies will be made in a subscription-based, pay-as-you-use model, termed as ‘XaaS’, short for as a service. This trend is expected to continue for the next three years.  

“These top trends can help demonstrate how digital initiatives deliver value to diverse and evolving constituent needs, support new workforce trends, enable efficient scaling of operations and build a composable business,” said Arthur Mickoleit, research director at Gartner. 

By composable business, Mickoleit refers to the idea of multiple technology components being interconnected and being able to share data and resources. Such a move, called a composable design approach, will be a necessity for 25% of government projects by the year 2024.  

“Composability enables governments to focus on citizen-centric services, rather than on the frequently used, siloed, program-centric approach,” Gartner said.  

With technology becoming pervasive and becoming more all-encompassing, governments have started to play a bigger role in the security of technology environments that are increasingly becoming mission-critical for countries. Gartner predicts that 75% of government CIOs will be directly responsible for the security outside of IT environments by 2025, this includes operational and mission-critical technology environments. 

Another top trend is the emergence of digital identity ecosystems, for Indians, most of our vaccination data, as well as Aadhar data, are present on our mobile phones. Gartner predicts that 1/3rd of national governments will offer citizens dedicated mobile-based identity wallets by 2024, aimed at providing better and smoother access to services.  

Other key government trends recognised include accelerated modernisation of legacy systems, faster automation of key processes, often referred to as hyperautomation. Gartner predicts that 75% of governments will have at least three hyperautomation projects over the next three years.  

Lastly, governments will also invest in creating systems that provide real-time decision making, with 60% of them investing in AI and data analytics to drive decisions.