Gartner tips datacentre systems as the highest area for government IT spending in 2023

The analyst has posted its projected global spending growth for next year

Global government IT spending is forecast to total $588.9bn in 2023, an uptick of 6.8 per cent from 2022, according to Gartner.

The analyst predicts government IT spending to increase across all segments except devices, as government end-users extend the useful life of their devices that were acquired at the onset of the pandemic.

Software will be the highest growing segment in 2023 (12.5 per cent) followed by IT services and internal services.

While datacentre systems will see the most cash injection of more than $25bn.

"Government organisations are continuing to modernise legacy IT and invest in initiatives that improve access to digital services as constituents increasingly demand experiences that are equivalent to online customer interactions in the private sector," said Gartner director analyst, Daniel Snyder.

"The total experience (TX) framework, which helps agencies manage employee and citizen interactions, is enabling transformation and will remain among the main drivers of IT spend in 2023."

Along with improving the citizen experience and engagement, a cohesive TX strategy will help governments advance digital skills and literacy in their workforces by providing modern tools and approaches to lessen friction in government work, Gartner said.

It added that failing to build a solid TX strategy increases service friction, leading to risk of service delays and underwhelming service experiences.

Moreover, initiatives such as migrating services to the cloud, modernising applications, and fortifying network security are among the primary innovation priorities that governments are focused on to improve public engagement and satisfaction.

Government CIOs will prioritise improved use of data and digitalisation across organisations

According to the 2023 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey, digital transformation, leveraging and using data effectively and technology modernisation are the top three priorities of government CIOs.

"In alignment to these priorities, investments will increase in cybersecurity, application modernisation, cloud platforms, integration technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and business/data analytics tools," said Gartner principal analyst, Apeksha Kaushik.

However, Gartner said CIOs will have to tackle challenges such as varying stakeholder expectations and developing action plans accordingly at the same time.