How public sector leaders can upskill their workforce with emerging technology | THINK Digital Partners - THINK Digital Partners

John Atkinson, director solutions engineering UKI, at Riverbed Technology, suggests how the public sector can engage a younger workforce, drive innovation, close the skills gap and support the hybrid workforce.
Posted 3 July 2024 by Christine Horton
Today, public sector organisations have an incredible opportunity to invest in technology that will improve experience for staff and citizens alike – helping employees streamline how they work, and citizens access the services they need.
Whilst budgets may be tight, local authorities are essential to our infrastructure and technology is seen as an enabler. In March 2024, as part of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget, the government unveiled an £800 million investment plan to leverage technology to reform public services. By embracing transformation and choosing the right tech – and technology partners – they can maximise their resources and become more efficient with what they do have.
In line with this, research reveals that 80 percent of public sector leaders are planning to accelerate digital experience adoption and implementation; it also shows cloud (44 percent), artificial intelligence (38 percent) and automation (33 percent) will become mission-critical priorities over the next 18 months. It’s clear that public sector leaders are keen to take advantage of emerging technology to stretch their budgets, drive innovation and close the skills gap while supporting a hybrid workforce.
The workforce is changing as long-standing staff members retire and a new generation of digitally native Millennial and Gen Z workers enter. These employees have high expectations of their tech, and 86 percent of public sector leaders Riverbed surveyed believe they’ll need to provide more advanced digital experiences (DEX) as a result. Furthermore, 58 percent even think there would be a disruptive or reputational impact on their organisation if the DEX needs of younger generations aren’t met.
There’s technology available that helps organisations meet these demands while understanding the behaviour of their citizens to provide better services. It’s known as observability, and it collects full-fidelity data to offer comprehensive visibility spanning networks, IT infrastructure, apps, endpoints and the cloud. Using this insight, it can immediately diagnose issues, remotely and non-invasively, and pinpoint opportunities to make improvements – so technology can be brought up to standard and kept that way, allowing digitally native staff to focus on innovation instead of dealing with slow systems and blue screens.
Another barrier to exceptional experiences is the fact that public sector IT teams are managing more devices, deployment models and apps than ever, in more locations than ever. Research shows that 49 percent of public sector employees operate in a hybrid model, and 92 percent of public sector leaders surveyed said hybrid working enhances their ability to recruit talent and remain competitive.
Observability platforms provide actionable insights on the user experience at every single point, wherever employees are based – so authorities can get more done with less guesswork, fewer agents and a reduced need for people to be in the office. This not only supports staff as they enjoy all the flexibility hybrid working provides but it reduces costs, too.
The IT model has changed dramatically in recent times. Data no longer needs to sit in data centres – instead, it’s held in the cloud – and office workers no longer need to sit in offices. IT teams are challenged with managing this complexity while battling notification fatigue from alerts across all the devices we’ve come to rely on. This overwhelm isn’t unique to IT staff; it’s felt by citizens, too, as they’re bombarded with different tools and apps to manage all their public services.
While fixing technology overwhelm with technology can feel counterintuitive, advanced observability solutions can bring together existing investments and reduce complexity for everyone while boosting ROI. They can analyse the data they collect to automate IT processes – fixing issues faster, often without human intervention. So, not only are alerts prioritised, allowing IT managers to see what needs addressing most urgently, but many are eradicated altogether as underlying problems are solved. This saves valuable time and money that can be reallocated elsewhere.
Enter any boardroom, and no doubt two of the first words you’ll hear are ‘artificial intelligence’. Every senior leader in every organisation is seemingly talking about AI. In fact, it’s projected to be the top budget spend over the next three years. The question is: how can public sector organisations drive real value from it?
The answer: AIOps, a combination of AI and IT operations that brings all aspects of an IT organisation under a single, automated umbrella to help improve digital experiences and operational efficiency. It can automatically unify disparate data, correlate it into actionable insight, investigate anomalies and remedy performance issues.
Ultimately, technology like observability can empower public sector organisations to deliver greater public services. It means more can be done with existing IT infrastructure to provide teams with more control over costs and budgets, all the while enhancing the experience for citizens.
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