Gen AI, Predictive Analytics Among Technologies That Will Impact Digital Governance: Gartner

There are six technologies that will have transformational benefits within five years for digital government services. These include digital employee experience, artificial intelligence code assistants, generative AI, generative design AI, predictive analytics and workstyle analytics, according to research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. 

Through 2027, multidisciplinary digital workplace teams that mix business and technology roles will be 50% more likely to deliver positive outcomes than those formed by IT alone. DEX strategies use experience best practices, such as personas, journey mapping and voice of the employee, to boost digital dexterity, attract and retain valuable talent, and help employees deliver against business outcomes.

A coordinated approach to DEX across IT and non-IT partners can minimise digital friction, reduce silos and maximise workforce digital dexterity and well-being. Workers who say that their relationship with IT involves more than break or fix support are twice as likely to recommend their organisation as a good place to work.

AI code assistants, integrated into developer tools, use pretrained models to interact with software developers through natural language and code snippets. They generate, analyse, debug, fix, refactor code, create documentation and translate code between languages. These assistants can be customised to an organisation’s specific code base and documentation, which is important for government entities.

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.

Business focus is shifting from excitement around foundation models to use cases that drive return on investment. Most gen AI implementations are currently low-risk and internal. With the progress of productivity tools and AI governance practices, organisations will be deploying gen AI for more critical use cases in industry verticals and scientific discovery. In the longer term, gen AI-enabled conversational interfaces will facilitate technology commercialisation, democratising AI and other technologies.

Generative design AI is a technology that utilises AI to autonomously generate design options based on parameters and constraints specified by the user. It uses algorithms to iterate rapidly through variations, optimising designs to achieve the best possible 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 designers and front-end developers, and will transition to full digital product design and front-end development capabilities, Gartner said.

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

Predictive approaches allow consequences of decisions to be considered ahead of time and enable plans to be adapted accurately as needed. This delivers better outcomes at lower risk than a reactive approach. To maintain the public’s trust and ensure accountability, it should be deployed transparently.

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%.

Workstyle analytics uses IT, HR and business data about how employees work to understand and optimise the relationship between technology investments, employee experience and business outcomes.