Get to London for your next conference day (People make) Sustainable and Innovation Places on Thursday 10 October
Public sector digital trends 2024 | Article

The 2024 trends in a nutshell

Quick reference guide to the digital and technology trends that you need to be aware of and thinking about in the context of your organisation’s ambitions.

Authors and contributors: Jos Creese, Martin Ferguson, Diana Rebaza, David Ogden

Jump to section

Socitm public sector digital and technology trends 2024 - in a nutshell - infographic
  1. Technology for public good
    There is a growing priority to lead the drive of  ‘technology for public good’, not just for efficiency: data safety, ethics, bias, equality are part of this and lead to productivity and savings.
  2. Reimagining services
    Rather than applying technologies such as AI and IOT to existing service models, there is a trend to redesign from the bottom up, with citizens at the centre of a design that crosses organisational boundaries, to solve complex issues in connected places.
  3. Community resilience
    Protecting communities from a growing range of threats and issues, internal and external, is best addressed by harnessing digital and technology means led by public services. These include supply chains, infrastructure, services, and individual well-being.
  4. Local and national leadership
    Connected places are increasingly working across organisations, such as health, social care, local government, and national bodies to build new societal models for public services and service infrastructure.
  5. Skills and capacity
    Public service organisations are focused on recruitment and retention of digital skills, especially in areas where there is a highly competitive market, including AI, digital change, and data management.

Keep in mind that the position is more complex than this, give many given many of these digital technology aspects interact and are independent.

  1. AI application
    Early adopters will experiment with AI applications. Most organisations will do preparatory work on AI policies, risks and compliance.
  2. Harnessing data
    Data maturity is a top priority and a block to digital opportunities: data quality, analytics, ethics, standards, governance, and distributed models.
  3. Cyber protection
    Protecting the organisation from technical intrusions, externally and internally remain on high alert. Risks are increasing, and the vectors of attack are becoming more sophisticated.
  4. ‘Spatial technologies’
    Data from new sources about people, places, services and assets is being used in new ways – VR, ‘digital twins’, designing virtual services, connecting resources and tracking service chain risks.
  5. Infrastructure and cloud
    The nature of new cloud models, distributed service platforms, edge computing, and data management challenges is being reflected in new infrastructure designs. The debate has moved on from “on premise” or “off premise”.