**NEW RESEARCH** Public Sector Predictions 2018

In 2018 public sector organisations will not find it easy to operate efficiently and effectively without looking beyond their own four walls. They cannot afford to be insular and will need to look at Breaking the Boundaries if they are going to achieve the necessary reforms to public service delivery.

It will be a critical year for the public sector and indeed the United Kingdom as a whole. Brexit will be a looming presence over much that the government does and its impact will filter down to all parts of the public sector. Throw in GDPR, ongoing budgetary pressures, a digital skills shortage and a minority government, and suppliers and their customers will have some challenging waters to navigate. As always, these pressures will create both opportunities and threats.

We see the following factors driving public sector activity during 2018:

Navigating the Brexit challenge. Brexit opportunities will build during 2018. There will be a need for additional consultancy, software, application development and integration services. For some suppliers that will mean being prepared to push their own boundaries by taking on smaller and more consultative contracts than usual to ensure they are in the right place when the panic sets in as 2019 approaches.

Addressing the digital skills shortage. A shortage of people with the right digital skills is inhibiting the digital transformation of the public sector. Businesses can’t wait for clarity to emerge from the fog of Brexit negotiations, so we will see the trend of building resource outside of the UK’s boundaries continue in 2018. The public sector will also need to consider more creative ways to access the requisite digital talent in the UK, including the use of public freelance marketplaces or crowdsourcing.

The benefits of better collaboration. There are several aspects of collaboration that we expect to develop during 2018. Suppliers will look at partnerships to bring in specialist skills such as intelligent automation and we will need to see improvements in joint working between government departments. We will also see more collaboration between and within local and regional agencies, where we expect the devolved authorities to lead the way.

Security, regulation and the value of data. Effective use of data will be complicated by the advent of GDPR and ongoing concerns about cyber security. Most organisations will need to make significant improvements to the way they collect, store and process personal data. The WannaCry ransomware attack acted as a wake-up call across the public sector and we will see a rise in opportunities concerned with countering cyber threats.

A smarter UK public sector. The increasing use of connected devices and appliances will generate huge quantities of data that will need to be collected, stored, analysed and interpreted. This will help encourage public sector organisations to adopt infrastructure and technology beyond their four walls. As digital, data and cloud capabilities mature, we will see further investment in IoT technologies in the public sector, with interest being driven by local government, health and defence.

Public Sector Predictions 2018 provides more detail on these topics and the report is now available to download by PublicSectorViews’ subscribers. If you’re not a current subscriber please contact Deb Seth for details of how to take one out.

Posted by Dale Peters at '09:09' - Tagged: skills   government   iot   collaboration   cyber   brexit   GDPR