A Renewed Focus on Technology to Modernize Government

In an era marked by unprecedented technological advancements and fiscal challenges, the imperative for the U.S. federal government to modernize its operations has never been more critical. This is highlighted by a recent report, led by the Technology CEO Council (TCC), in which the IBM Center for The Business of Government participated. That report details how, if implemented effectively, technology-based reforms could reduce federal costs significantly—now and over time.

A new report from the IBM Center, How Technology Can Drive Government Efficiency, is a companion piece to the more detailed TCC report and discusses leveraging new innovation – including the latest advances in IT modernization, business process innovations, and artificial intelligence (AI) to transform government operations— can lead to improved service quality and lower costs, and deliver renewed results for the public from government agencies. The insights and recommendations contained within this report are grounded in real-world experiences from both the public and private sectors, adapted to address the significant scope of the federal government.

This report identifies several key areas for improvement, including fraud and improper payments prevention, AI, IT modernization, the use of common systems for common purposes, and financial operations. The potential benefits extend beyond financial savings, and also include improved security and reliability from government for the American public. The recommendations provide a roadmap for federal agencies to meet their missions more efficiently, at a lower cost, and with reduced risk.

Achieving this level of savings and efficiency will necessitate technology adoption to promote effective government operations. Expanding current efforts to modernize the federal IT portfolio and the processes that support it will add value by enabling agencies to meet their missions more quickly and completely, with less overhead, at lower cost and with reduced risk.

This report highlights the necessity for innovation to modernize government IT, to enable the transformation of the American government. The recommendations in this report present a roadmap for achieving cost reductions and efficiency improvements over the next decade, which can help the government to adapt commercial practices to help agencies achieve the benefits of modernization. The report demonstrates that through strategic investments in technology and a commitment to continuous improvement, agencies can transform operations to better serve the needs of the nation.