Government organizations are under pressure to deliver more efficient, transparent, and responsive services. Digital transformation is accelerating the pace of change. Public sector organizations that rely on manual processes can no longer keep up with the demands of modern governance. This is where workflow automation comes in. Automation is a powerful way to streamline operations, enhance service delivery, and improve decision-making.

Federal government agencies are facing a growing workforce challenge. The looming retirement wave, particularly among experienced baby boomers, threatens to leave critical knowledge gaps in agencies that are already struggling with understaffing. To bridge this gap, government agencies must focus on appealing to a younger workforce that brings fresh perspectives, technological expertise, and a strong desire to make an impact.

Composability is a growing trend in enterprise software development. It means designing your organization to be flexible so you can adapt to change in real time. Modularity lies at the heart of composability. Modular approaches have been around for decades, such as in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and microservices. But the rise of low-code platforms, cloud computing, and modern integration tools has made it easier to implement composable architectures at scale.

Artificial intelligence (AI) was a major topic at Appian Government 2024, the premier event for public sector digital transformation leaders and mission owners. Most AI products are created on the West Coast, with commercial customers in mind. But commercial enterprises and government organizations differ in many ways. Important issues that affect the federal government’s approach to AI include: For 25 years, Appian has focused on serving public sector organizations.

ERP systems are critical in government agency operations for integrating internal and external management information. They are intended to optimize processes, improve collaboration, and connect with customers, vendors, and partners. Government ERP systems typically include modules related to financial management, human resources, sales, procurement, inventory, and operations like contract and project management.

In the fast-paced world of government software development, efficiency and effectiveness are paramount. One way government organizations enhance agility, foster innovation, and optimize resources in the public sector is through citizen development—the practice of allowing non-technical employees to create their own software applications using low-code or no-code platforms.

Agencies typically have older procurement systems or too many systems. In either case, they are data entry intensive and error-prone, negatively impacting the procurement process and outcomes. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s Procurement Acquisition Lead Time memo from 2021 specifically calls for government modernization by “leveraging technology to modernize operations and help the workforce move from low- to high-value activities.”

There are many ways AI can improve government case management processes. Examples include: AI capabilities often depend on a large language model (LLM), an advanced AI system that can understand, analyze, interpret, and generate human language. It uses deep learning techniques to predict and produce coherent text based on input prompts. A large language model trained on government agency data is capable of tasks like text extraction, translation, summarization, and conversational responses.

In many state and local government organizations, contract management is a manual process that is often cumbersome to oversee. Employees often feel overwhelmed trying to track deliverables and payments and ensure compliance. Manual contract management leads to delays and inefficiencies in procurement processes, resulting in missed opportunities to identify and acquire the right products or services at the best possible cost, which wastes taxpayer dollars.

The business of governance is not easy. Public sector organizations face a range of obstacles from corruption to lack of transparency to red tape—obstacles that have the potential to erode public trust in institutions and hinder economic development. That’s probably why, in virtually every country around the world, popular culture lampoons the intricacies of government bureaucracy.