Top Digital Transformation Trends in Government

As digital trends and technology continue to change and grow, all industries are affected, including government. Whether you’re already working in the technology and/or government fields, or you’re looking for a new change, consider the fast-paced and exciting world of working in the technology sector in a government role.

Not sure where to begin, where you’d fit in, or how you can best harness your skills and talents to land a coveted technology role in government? The following are some of the top digital transformation trends that are impacting an array of industries, including local, state, and federal government agencies. 

1. Strengthening Security

As cyber attacks become a more realistic and dangerous threat, most companies these days—particularly ones that have sensitive information to protect—understand the importance of cyber security. As one might imagine, government agencies need to be especially diligent when it comes to ramping up their security efforts. FedTech has reported, for instance, that the Department of Homeland Security recently launched an initiative to tighten security. With a DevOps approach, the agency hopes to close any gaps between contracting partners and agencies as they address cyber security liabilities in their IT equipment. This allows them to identify potential risks early on and take action before they become a problem.

As the digital trend continues across various government agencies, it also means hiring the right individuals who have the skills and training needed to protect top secret data and to stop it from getting into the wrong hands. At a basic level, this means a solid understanding of IT fundamentals, such as system administration and web applications. At an advanced level, it means advanced coding skills and having the relevant certification.

2. Transitioning to Cloud-based and Shared Services

President Trump recently signed the Modernizing Government Technology Act (MGT) in an effort to help replace outdated technologies in government agencies. This will affect upcoming digital trends in government overall in the coming years, as more modern and advanced technologies eventually begin to replace obsolete methods. With this act now in place, one trend that more government agencies will begin to take advantage of is cloud-based and shared services. These advancements should also help to improve cybersecurity as data and systems are being moved to cloud-based platforms, as it allows government officials to easily and quickly access important information when needed.

3. Mining Data

Most industries understand the importance of data, and government agencies are certainly no exception. The federal government has gotten to the point where the levels of data they’re continuously collecting has reached overwhelming amounts, which only calls for the need for more skilled data miners and analysts to sift through this information. Training as a data scientist can help give you an edge over the competition and offer the skills needed to succeed in this data-driven industry. After all, when you train as a data scientist, you learn the ins and outs of working in this field. Coupled with on-the-job experience, this can make you an ideal candidate.

4. Implementing Automation

Chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) are just some of the many examples of automation that government agencies have begun taking advantage of in order to run more efficiently because it frees up workers’ time and allows them to focus on tasks that cannot be automated.

The Department of Human Services, for example, has implemented automated call centers in their social services department. Chatbots were also used as part of a StopBullying.gov initiative, which was developed with Google’s TensorFlow machine learning library. This technology easily allows individuals to receive information about anti-bullying, as well as how to report it to the proper authorities and get help, if needed.

Even with this increase in automation in the government sector, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not predict substantial loss between now and 2024.