Each time a brand new digital service goes stay — a allowing portal, a advantages app, a scheduling instrument — there’s an IT staff behind it making an attempt to maintain tempo. However as demand rises, staffing and techniques are falling behind. Budgets are tight, timelines are quick, and expectations for pace and safety proceed to develop.
That strain is forcing businesses to rethink how they work. The newest State of IT within the Public Sector report reveals how businesses are responding and the place they’re focusing subsequent to work smarter, modernize techniques, and put together for AI. From knowledge cleanup to automation, listed below are 3 ways businesses are working to construct smarter, extra resilient companies.
1. Modernize legacy techniques to cut back drag.
Outdated infrastructure is slowing groups down. Practically 29% of public sector IT tasks are lacking deadlines, actually because stretched groups are caught sustaining ageing techniques whereas additionally standing up new companies.
Legacy platforms enhance prices, complicate safety, and power groups to spend useful time resolving points manually — particularly when knowledge is scattered throughout disconnected instruments.
To maneuver sooner and construct smarter, many businesses are shifting to cloud-first platforms, consolidating techniques, and strengthening their structure. Transferring away from legacy infrastructure helps scale back upkeep calls for, enhance reliability, and create a stronger basis for instruments like automation and AI.
2. Put together for AI with a powerful knowledge basis.
Public sector leaders see the potential of AI — however they comprehend it relies on dependable knowledge. In reality, 30% of IT professionals say enhancing knowledge accuracy is one among AI’s most promising use circumstances.
That’s particularly related as businesses discover agentic AI — instruments that depend on linked, reliable knowledge to make selections and take motion. With out that, AI efforts stall or create extra work than they resolve.
Consequently, many businesses are pivoting to knowledge hygiene, integration, and governance. Some are consolidating techniques to chop down on duplication. Others are automating knowledge validation to cut back guide errors. The top objective is similar: dependable, accessible info that may energy smarter instruments — and smarter selections.
3. Use AI brokers to increase staff capability.
As demand for digital companies grows, many businesses are turning to AI brokers for assist. 81% of public sector IT leaders say they’re already utilizing, or plan to make use of, AI brokers within the subsequent two years. These instruments can draft responses, route requests, or course of paperwork — releasing employees to concentrate on complicated circumstances, cross-agency collaboration, or longer-term planning.
However adoption isn’t nearly plugging in new tech. Success relies on sturdy knowledge pipelines, considerate use circumstances, and clear guardrails. AI brokers are simplest once they’re supporting the work, not changing it.
For businesses going through funds constraints and expertise shortages, this type of help could make an actual distinction. When individuals can offload repeatable duties, they will reply sooner, with much less burnout and higher outcomes for the communities they serve.
Construct for influence, not simply pace.
Public sector IT groups are making laborious trade-offs day by day — selecting the place to speculate time, allocate restricted sources, and which techniques to modernize first. Those making progress are targeted on the fundamentals: enhancing knowledge high quality, streamlining workflows, and lowering duplication throughout platforms.
That work isn’t all the time seen, nevertheless it provides up. It makes companies extra responsive, reduces danger, and lays the groundwork for future innovation — together with AI. Whether or not you’re modernizing infrastructure or piloting AI, the objective stays the identical: Ship higher outcomes with the staff and instruments you have already got.
The State of IT within the Public Sector
We surveyed 4,000+ IT leaders worldwide to uncover the tendencies, priorities, and challenges shaping the general public sector IT panorama. See how public sector IT leaders are navigating these challenges — and the place they’re headed subsequent.
