Global government IT spending to grow 6.5% in 2022: Gartner

According to a recent report from Gartner, the global government IT spending will reach $557.3bn in 2022, an increase of 6.5 per cent from 2021.

“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 tenet, which is public policy and technology are inseparable.”

In 2022, increased investments in digital technologies will see governments spend 64 per cent of total IT spending on IT services and software to improve responsiveness and resilience of public services. These include investments in enhancing customer and employee experience, strengthening analytical capabilities and scaling operational agility.

IT infrastructure and applications modernization as well as digital government transformation will remain high government priorities in 2022.

The pandemic has amplified the need for governments to rapidly scale IT infrastructure and application systems and respond to unprecedented public demands. Gartner estimates that by 2025, over 50 per cent 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.

The Covid-19 crisis has further intensified the need for adopting citizen digital identity as a critical element to digital government transformation. “Digital identity is moving beyond authenticating citizens online and signing remote transactions,” said Fabular. “To raise the chances for greater adoption of digital identity, governments must treat privacy, security and user convenience as critical success factors.”

Earlier this month, Gartner forecasted that worldwide 5G network infrastructure revenue will grow 39 per cent to total $19.1bn in 2021, up from $13.7bn in 2020.

Read: Gartner says worldwide 5G network infrastructure revenue to grow 39% in 2021

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Michael Porowski, senior principal research analyst at Gartner said that the Covid-19 pandemic has spiked demand for optimised and ultrafast broadband connectivity to support work from home and bandwidth-hungry applications, such as streaming video, online gaming and social media applications.

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