The FINANCIAL — ARLINGTON, Va; June 4, 2018 – A new report from Accenture has found that rapid advancements in technologies – including artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and the cloud – are enabling federal agencies to strengthen their relationships with citizens and business partners, which are critical to the agencies’ digital-transformation efforts.
The Accenture Technology Vision for U.S. Government 2018 report – titled Technology Advances. Federal Impacts. and published by Accenture Federal Services – discusses how, as technology is increasingly interwoven across commercial and government activities, federal agencies that enhance their level of connection with citizens must also prioritize trust and the integrity and quality of data used and collected.
“Citizens today are reimagining their lives around digital innovation,” said John Goodman, Accenture Federal Services’ chief executive. “Government can capitalize on this trend by enabling a true two-way exchange with the people it serves. This requires building a new type of relationship with citizens, establishing trust and a greater level of responsibility around the sharing of personal information and the accuracy of data. Through this kind of collaboration, government will be able to deliver more responsive and impactful services for citizens.”
The report predicts five emerging technology trends that federal agencies must address if they are to build the partnerships needed to succeed in today’s digital economy. One of those is “Citizen AI,” which discusses how, as artificial intelligence grows in its capabilities – and its impact on people’s lives – businesses and government agencies must move to “raise” their AI systems to act as responsible, productive members of society. More than just a tool, AI is a collection of advanced technologies that allows machines to sense, comprehend, act and learn. By training AI to act responsibly, they reflect accepted business and societal norms of responsibility, fairness and transparency.
Based on the analysis of a technology advisory board, interviews with industry experts and a survey of 240 federal executives, the Technology Vision for U.S. Government 2018 report is derived from the Accenture Technology Vision 2018, the annual technology report from Accenture that predicts key technology trends likely to disrupt business over the next three years.
According to the federal report, more than four in five (82 percent) of the federal executives surveyed believe that AI will work next to humans in their organization as a co-worker, collaborator and trusted advisor within the next two years, and even more (86 percent) believe that AI is advancing faster than the pace at which their organization is adopting the technology. AI is growing to the point where it often has as much influence as the people putting it to use, both within and outside the organization. Federal agencies looking to capitalize on AI’s potential must also acknowledge fast-growing adoption and impact of AI throughout society, according to the report.
Another trend is “Data Veracity,” which discusses how organizations must extend their cyber operations and data-assurance technologies to demonstrate data trustworthiness. Nearly nine in 10 (86 percent) of federal executives surveyed reported that their organizations are increasingly using data to drive critical and automated decision-making – and doing so at unprecedented scale. However, the research found that many organizations have not yet invested in the capabilities to verify the truth of their data.
“Data veracity is critical to federal agencies as digital relationships with employees and citizens are redefined,” said Dominic Delmolino, Accenture Federal Services’ chief technology officer. “Federal agencies are transitioning from constrained data centers to cloud-like environments that are reconfigurable, where people can expand and try new things at a faster pace, and with infinite capacity. This is why the Accenture Federal Digital Studio is such a great asset for our federal clients, giving us the chance to co-create solutions together and push the boundaries of what’s possible.”
The other trends in the federal report are:
Extended Reality: The End of Distance. Virtual and augmented reality technologies are removing the distance separating people, information, and experiences, transforming the ways people live and work.
Frictionless Business: Built to Partner at Scale. Organizations depend on technology-based partnerships for growth and efficiency, but legacy systems and organizations are not designed to support partnerships at scale or speed. To fully power the connected enterprise, organizations must first re-design their technology infrastructures, incorporating technologies such as microservices and blockchain to enable them to partner effectively with other organizations.
Internet of Thinking: Creating Intelligent Distributed Systems. Organizations are making big bets on intelligent environments via robotics, AI and immersive experiences. In bringing these kinds of technologies to the federal sector, agencies have opportunities to consider new ways to deliver actionable intelligence in real time, at scale to the front lines of civilian and defense missions.
For more information on this year’s federal report, visit Technology Advances. Federal Impacts. or follow the conversation on Twitter with #TechVision2018. Learn more about Accenture’s work with federal agencies in the Accenture Federal Services Federal CIO Playbook: IT Modernization.
The Accenture Federal Digital Studio in Washington, D.C. brings together modern capabilities and tools that enable the U.S. government to advance its digital modernization goals using proven scalable and secure commercial solutions. With design approaches developed by Fjord in human-centric design, rapid development and agile approaches, the Accenture Federal Digital Studio helps clients move from vision to roadmap to real-world deployment to solve their toughest problems in new ways.
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