Government agencies are undergoing significant change, and finding more pressure than ever to keep up to date with digital technology trends.

DMI (Digital Management Inc.) has highlighted the top trends impacting government bodies in a new research report.

According to the report, governments are realising the need for a greater emphasis on the Internet of Things (IoT), proactive security management and monitoring and data-driven decision-making, as well as creative approaches to design and cloud-focused activities.

Agencies will look to identify and utilise new technologies to improve operations and better serve employees and citizens, DMI says.

Internet of Things will be a top priority

IoT has the ability to improve the visibility of various assets and processes that agencies are required to monitor to ensure optimum utilisation, DMI says.

Whether it is the tracking of military weapons and supplies, IT assets and security, or safety processes, the connected technology of IoT has the potential to enhance decision making through the processing of relevant data.

CIOs and mission leaders will look to focus on how IoT will impact mission goals and how it will be integrated into the current communications and network infrastructure and application, cloud and data architectures, according to the report.

Proactive security management and monitoring a critical need

While agencies have increased their use of strong authentication policies, these defensive security measures alone cannot ensure protection against unexpected attacks and threats. In fact, it is proactive steps that will save the day, DMI says.

Agencies should define and implement robust security and privacy controls, consistently monitor the implementation of security systems and reports to diagnose and mitigate threats and vulnerabilities, and build cyber action teams to remediate problems in order to improve protection of cyber critical assets, says DMI.

Data-driven decision-making a game changer

The world of big data continues to expand and, with that in mind, DMI advises agencies to consider enterprise data architecture using big data constructs to make the foundation flexible, nimble and scalable.

DMI believes that the focus will shift from data management to data algorithms in order to enable data-driven decisions.

Jay Sunny Bajaj, DMI founder and CEO, says, "2016 is going to be a promising year for government as it undergoes digital transformation – but it won't be easy.

“Legacy systems can slow progress, as can managing functions outside one's core expertise.

“Agencies will need to rely on trusted partners to quickly make progress and be able to serve constituents while keeping data safe.

“Our mandate in working with government[s] is to provide a full suite of digital services that enable them to focus on their mission,” Bajaj says.