There’s no denying that technology helps you deliver services faster—giving you the ability to improve your civic operations. With an ever-changing technology landscape, municipalities are pressured to transform and adapt quickly. As the evolution in technology and government grows in 2015, we not only need to evaluate trends, but also understand what makes sense for your city and your citizens.
Here are the top five local government technology trends to check out in the coming year:
1. Platform technology gives you flexibility when solutions can be built faster and specific to your agency needs. With Platform as a Service (PaaS) expected to gain 40% annual growth through 2017, government agencies are jumping on board to gain the advantage of a one-stop shop.
2. Cloud technology continues to be adopted, transforming the way cities spend money and implement IT solutions. In fact, about 25% of cities will be using cloud services for data management by 2018!
3. Open data and data analytics provide government transparency, a hot topic for a public increasingly interested in having access to relevant information. There are also economic and social benefits to open data initiatives, especially when the data can be maintained and standardized. And, municipalities are using data analytics to measure performance to help make better decisions. McKinsey & Co. even estimates that open data analytics have an economic potential of over $3 trillion in value to the global economy.
4. Smart Community development offers a responsive and connected government that engages citizens. The Smart City market is estimated at $1.5 trillion globally and continues to drive urban development. According to Frost & Sullivan there are eight identifiers for a smart community, including smart governance, smart mobility, smart infrastructure and smart technology.
5. Citizen engagement tools give the people the ability to self-serve. US state and local governments will invest about $6.3 billion in civic engagement technologies in 2015. Citizens want the ability to easily connect with agencies and have their voices heard online and on social media.
How are you integrating these or other civic technology trends into your agency? I’d love to read about your experience in the comments section!
