Emerging tech can propel government into a new era

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Deloitte’s 2024 Government Tech Trends report provides valuable insights that Florida officials at the state and local levels could leverage to enhance government processes and capabilities.

“Six emerging technology trends demonstrate that in an age of generative machines, it’s more important than ever for organizations to maintain an integrated business strategy, a solid technology foundation and a creative workforce,” according to the Deloitte report.

The six new tech trends transforming government include:

— Interfaces in new places: Spatial computing and the industrial metaverse

— Genie out of the bottle: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) as growth catalyst

— Smarter, not harder: Beyond brute force compute

— From DevOps to DevEx: Empowering the engineering experience

— Defending reality: Truth in an age of synthetic media

— Core workout: From technical debt to technical wellness

The top trends are a combination of elevating and grounding forces. Elevating forces focus on continued pioneering innovations of modern computing. Grounding forces are existing systems and investments integrated with innovations in modern computing to create efficiencies, scale up operations seamlessly, and support constituent needs and other government services.

Spatial computing emerges as a pertinent trend that could help Florida government agencies leverage data and AI to replicate real-world processes. This elevating force enables agencies to undertake operational spatial planning, augment workforce capabilities and enhance overall operational efficiency. By adopting a “simulation-first” approach, organizations can visualize, simulate and assess facility layouts, minimize costly investments and enhance precision.

Governments can also adopt alternative reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools to increase employee function. An AR-enabled workforce allows individuals to be in more than one “place” simultaneously. It also reduces onboarding time and operations through simulations and enhances employee safety, training, and preparation for potential risks or unforeseen challenges.

Empowering the engineering experience is a significant trend, particularly relevant in Florida, given the recent surge in demand for tech talent. The holistic approach involves investing in the developer experience (DevEx) during recruitment and operations and fostering a developer-first mindset. A culture focused on a modern engineering experience can help build out improved government operations.

One part of the experience is to provide standardized platforms and tools.

“Leading organizations are acting on this trend by creating a one-stop platform for developers, where they can access a source code repository, onboarding information, documentation, tools, software development kits and more,” reported Deloitte.

The second component of DevEx is establishing a straightforward and continuous process for developers to accomplish tasks in a flow not hindered by outdated or disconnected operational systems.

According to the report, “The ideal developer experience would likely entail a single process and pipeline across the organization for code validation and testing, performance measurements, and safe rollbacks of code without causing outages.”

Investments into DevEx enable governments to recruit and retain high-quality tech talent, leading to improved end-user and constituent experiences.

Deloitte found that “81% of companies have realized a moderate or significant impact on profitability from their investments in developer experience.”

All these trends collectively herald a tech renaissance in government operations. For Florida, embracing these trends translates into unlocking unprecedented efficiencies, fostering innovation, and ensuring resilience in the face of complex challenges.

With unique opportunities to lead the nation in this digital age, Florida’s government entities are poised to embark on a transformative journey toward an innovative future, positioning the state at the forefront of the tech frontier.