64% of UK government leaders said the pandemic forced them to rewrite their digital plans. The cloud has played a vital role in responding flexibly to the pandemic. What role will it play moving forward?
Public sector technology faces a moment of flux
The government borrowed a record £317 billion to respond to the coronavirus crisis. This spending means public sector budgets will inevitably be restricted in the coming years. The reality is that lean governance and doing more with less is going to be the norm - for at least the first half of the decade. Decisions about how you invest in technology will face real scrutiny.
At the same time, public sector staff have become accustomed to remote working and easy access to data from anywhere. Developing a strategy that responds to ‘hybrid’ working patterns (some staff at home, some in the office) will be vital.
The public now expects government services to be fully digitally accessible too. Big picture thinking will be needed to explore how to deliver comprehensive services to all – regardless of the branch of government, they interact with.
And public sector organisations continue to face the challenge of dealing with legacy technology. Creating a plan to deal with older IT systems will become an ever more pressing concern.