Countries across the world are expected to be spending some $557 billion in 2022, up by 6.5 percent compared to 2021, on IT services and software.
According to the latest forecast from Gartner the bulk of the expenditures, around 64 percent, will go to IT services and software, as governments seek to improve responsiveness and resilience of public services. Increased budgets will cover investments in enhancing customer and employee experience, strengthening analytical capabilities and scaling operational agility, Gartner said.
The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the digital transformation across government and private sectors last year, as consumers around the world shifted to remote channels.
A survey conducted by McKinsey among executives in 2020 found that organisations have accelerated the digitisation of their customer and supply-chain interactions and other internal operations by three to four years due to the pandemic.
Within the government sector, Gartner said, offices had to scale up IT infrastructure and application systems to respond to “unprecedented public demands” as well. And this trend will continue.
“Governments will continue to accelerate investments in digital technologies to respond and recover from the continuing evolution of public health uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Irma Fabular, research vice president at Gartner.
“The disruptions caused by the pandemic have also reinforced a key digital government tent, which is public policy and technology are inseparable.”
Gartner also noted that governments will continue to prioritise the modernisation of their IT infrastructure and applications in 2022.
It also estimated that by 2025, more than 50 percent of government agencies will have modernised “critical core legacy” applications to improve resilience and agility.
“Governments are rethinking their public cloud strategies to accelerate IT modernisation, improve efficiencies and increase data security,” said Fabular.