How governments are transforming to deliver on their promises

In this episode of Government’s Future Frontiers, we delve into the transformative trends shaping the future of government operations worldwide, as outlined in Deloitte’s Government Trends 2025.

Host Tanya Ott joins Bill Eggers, Stephen Goldsmith, and Adithi Pandit to talk about how governments are leveraging innovations like artificial intelligence, digital identities, and innovative public-private collaborations to deliver smarter, more focused services, which can be accessed easily and conveniently by their constituents. We also hear from Petra Holm, digital transformation adviser at e-Estonia, on how Estonia transformed itself into a digital leader out of necessity.

Our guests share real-world examples of how technology is being used to cut red tape or “sludge,” improve public trust, and enhance the quality of life for citizens.
As Bill Eggers puts it, “Governments are adopting all sorts of approaches such as internal audits and reviews to regularly identify unnecessary bureaucracy within their processes […] aimed at not only streamlining processes, eliminating redundant steps, simplifying administrative procedures, and making it much easier for citizens and businesses to interact with government, but to also remove a lot of those internal barriers that affect the performance of public servants.”

“So, the goal would be to use the technology revolution to change the way we operate government,” says Stephen Goldsmith. To that end, “Getting the right training in the hands of the right workers is important,” says Eggers.

And while tech would be the way to go, governments have a long road ahead of them, given, as Professor Stephen Goldsmith says, “We’re probably at 1% of adoption now—maybe less than 1%—and everybody’s interested in generative AI […] current public sector systems are obsolete.”

At the same time, tech like gen AI gives governments a unique opportunity: “To produce radical improvements in the quality of data […] the quality of insight from the data that the average public employee has. They can have access to that data and easily use it to improve their services, and we’re not nearly there yet.”

Join us as we uncover the key shifts and innovations that are enabling governments to be more agile, efficient, and responsive to the evolving needs of their citizens.

Tanya Ott: Governments are expected to do it all—deliver advanced services, at lower cost, with improved outcomes. And in 2025, that means thinking big: about topics like artificial intelligence, infrastructure, public trust, and the future of work.

I’m Tanya Ott, and in this episode of Government’s Future Frontiers, we’re diving into Deloitte’s Government Trends report for 2025.

It outlines key shifts that are reshaping how governments around the world operate.

We’ll be exploring how smarter, more citizen-focused services can be effectively delivered while at the same time scaling the use of AI responsibly. It’s not just about innovation; it’s about delivering public value.

Value for society, such as lowering housing costs, easier access to services via digital identities, and fostering stronger community bonds.

My guide through the analysis and innovative thinking is Bill Eggers.

Bill Eggers is executive director of Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights, which is Deloitte’s research organization supporting the public sector.

We’ll also hear from Petra Holm from e-Estonia, Stephen Goldsmith, and Adithi Pandit.

Stephen Goldsmith is a professor of urban policy at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University. He previously served as deputy mayor of New York and as mayor of Indianapolis.

Stephen Goldsmith: The goal would be to use the technology revolution to change the way we operate government. When you really change the way you work with data and technology, the results are dramatic.

Ott: And Adithi is a partner at Deloitte New Zealand. She leads the public sector practice and also leads the future of government initiative for the Asia Pacific.

Adithi Pandit: We rightly hold our governments to a very high standard, and trust and confidence are really important. And I think it’s really incumbent on government to have that courage and leadership to make it happen.

Ott: And we’ll hear more from both later.

Bill, we’re talking today about the government’s future frontiers, and particularly the government trends work that you’ve been doing. So, why don’t we start off with what is the central theme of Government Trends 2025?

Bill Eggers: The central theme of the report this year is advancing the government’s capacity to deliver.

Whether it be in services, infrastructure, improving the quality of life, the promise of AI, or cutting red tape, governments all over the world tend to promise big things. You know, affordable housing, reliable energy, stronger economies, but sometimes lack the capacity to actually deliver on those [promises].

And the real task isn’t just launching new projects; it’s overhauling how government works so it can move faster, be more agile, and do more with less. And with citizens demanding better service and technology evolving at breakneck speed, the pressure to get delivery right has really never been higher.

And in our report, we discuss how governments worldwide are addressing the challenges they face today and enhancing public services through the use of technology, innovation, collaboration with the private sector, and other strategies.

Ott: You talk about governments having the best of intentions but sometimes not the ability to actually deliver on the things that their citizens want. So why has the delivery challenge risen to prominence around the world at this time?

Eggers: Well, first, the government’s delivery challenge is hardly new. Delivering results has long been central to the government’s legitimacy. And in recent decades, a focus on delivery seemed to really peak in the early 2000s with the introduction of government delivery units in the United Kingdom and many other countries, and in the United States, with the launch of the President’s Management Agenda. And then, it seemed to wane a little bit with a big focus on digital transformation and other technologies. So, why is it back at the top of the agenda for governments worldwide? One reason is the elections in 2024 all over the world, where nearly half of the world’s population, spread across 72 countries, was eligible to vote in national elections, and the results were pretty sobering for incumbent governments.¹

Among democracies that held elections, more than four-fifths saw the incumbent party either defeated, losing seats, or losing vote share compared to the previous election. And I think the political upheaval really underscores the perception, at least, that many of these governments had failed to fulfill their promises that were made and also failed to meet their constituents’ evolving and growing expectations.

And so, I think that is one major reason why, and I think in general the feeling that the government’s capacity needs to be strengthened to deliver on things like big infrastructure projects, or again, the promise of artificial intelligence and other major areas like that.

Ott: So, what are some of the main strategies and tools that governments can employ, [or] maybe are employing, to close that gap between the promise and the performance?

Eggers: Well, one of them is closing what’s called the policy execution gap. We actually first wrote about that with a colleague years ago in a book called If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, where we looked at what we called kind of design-free design. And that’s where essentially you design policies from policymakers too, but that doesn’t actually work in the real world because you’ve got this gap between those who are designing the policies versus those who actually have to execute them.

So right now, governments are using new technologies, simulations, policy twins, data insights, more agile development, cocreating with citizens, and behavioral nudges to enhance policy effectiveness and to bridge that gap.

For instance, using digital twins to develop essentially better infrastructure from the start. We’re also seeing governments turbocharging their AI and digital delivery capabilities, adopting digital identity systems like in India’s Aadhaar, where over 1.5 billion people in the country now have a digital identity, or developing super apps like in Ukraine with their Diia app, where you can do over a hundred different services. And also doing a lot more in terms of sharing data, using customer experience tools, and so on.

And third, it’s simplifying complex procedures, which is really, really important. So governments are adopting all sorts of approaches such as internal audits and reviews to regularly identify unnecessary bureaucracy within their processes. And these reviews aim to streamline processes, eliminate redundant steps, simplify administrative procedures, and make it much easier for citizens and businesses to interact with government.

New South Wales, Australia, performs what they call sludge audits to simplify complex procedures such as death certificate registrations, reducing delays, and also dramatically improving citizen satisfaction.²

Ott:  So, what is a sludge audit? What does that entail?

Eggers: You’re basically looking at all kinds of very complex procedures and things that make it difficult to do something like register for a death certificate.

And what you’re doing is you’re using journey mapping. You’re really understanding what all that friction is, and you’re removing a lot of that and simplifying it and making it as easy as possible for citizens or businesses to interact with government, to get benefits, to get their permits done, and so on and so forth.

Ott: So, let’s recap. Sludge audits are reviews of public services that are looking for and identify unnecessary friction. That’s the sludge—something that slows down progress. And when it comes to government, we’re talking about things like confusing forms, long waits for responses to enquiries, or hard-to-find information. The goal is to spot and remove the sludge to make services simpler, faster, and fairer.

The so-called “sludge” is something that Stephen Goldsmith came up against when he was working for the mayor in New York City.

He recalls how he began to play his part in the changing landscape.

Goldsmith:  There are so many obstacles that public employees face in delivering high-quality services to residents, and so much frustration that residents experience as a result of waiting times and cumbersome processes. So, the goal would be to use the technology revolution to change the way we operate government.

One time, in frustration as deputy mayor, I got this great idea for innovation.

Ott: The idea Stephen was going to suggest was radical at that time. We’re talking around 2010 or 2011.

Goldsmith: And I said, we’re going to eliminate paper. That’s my key to innovation. And so, then I went to the building permit office and said, okay, no more paper.

If anybody comes in with a piece of paper, you digitize it. But we’re not taking in any more paper because we can’t change the system with paper.

I think all of us who have been in government have plenty of examples of people passing manila folders from desk to desk, looking in the phone book, or searching around based on tips. And it’s still the case in many departments, you’ll still see paper in city government, and that means you’re missing the data and you’re missing the changes.

And that means digitizing everything. And I just said the quickest example is when I was—I got a lot of New York City examples—deputy mayor of operations. I was in charge of licensing and permitting. And, you know, you would force an individual to go from agency one to agency two, to agency three, to agency four. Lots of cumbersome handoffs. And so those processes all need to be changed and [made] customer-facing. Then we’ll have a revolution in quality.

So, that’s one big issue. And then a corollary to that would be that it doesn’t require just digitization; it also requires business process reengineering, and that piece is very complicated.

Ott: Stephen’s inspiration came from an experience he’d had a few years previous.

Goldsmith:  I was once a district attorney responsible for collecting child support, and I had a deputy sheriff who was my security guard. And he decided he would take an old, cumbersome-like computer, and I’m sure it was called a computer at the time, and see if he could find the missing dads.

Right? So, we had all these people running around the city of Indianapolis trying to find people. This guy sat in a room, and he found more people in an hour than the rest of the deputies found running around the city, right? And eventually, our collections went from 900,000 to 38 million a year without hiring a single additional person.

So, my experience is that when you really change the way you work with data and technology, the results are dramatic.

Ott: Becoming a paper-free office is quite a revolutionary move, and so, how difficult was it to take the workforce on that journey?

Goldsmith: Once we explained it, people were willing to get on board with it, but it’s not just because they were parochial or shortsighted. If you think about it this way—so, one agency’s responsibility is to issue permits for who can cut down a tree, and another is to issue permits for something else, right?

And they are dedicated to being as efficient as they can inside their agency silo. Then when you say one of the goals of digitization is we’re going to do things concurrently instead of sequentially—we’re going to let the customer do [a] fill-in doc, they’ll go, well, yeah, I’m for that. But you’re not really asking me to do my process with more cumbersome approaches.

So therefore, people want to collaborate, but they also want to be efficient. And their definition of efficiency is, how can my agency be efficient? Their definition of efficiency is not, how can it be more efficient for the customer?

Ott: But the drive to change took a catalyst, and that catalyst was Stephen.

Goldsmith: I wanted New York City to be the first city in the world with a data analytics center. This was like a dozen years ago. So, we had a huge meeting about what were [the] best practices in the private sector that we could port into New York City.

And I have lots of stories about what kind of obstacles were there. But my point with the story is that I needed to give a face to change. So, each month I would have the chief operating officers, and we had about 300,000 employees. The chief operating officers [of] the major agencies [would] get together in a room.

They were to bring to the group a story of how they use data to transform services, and particularly how they used data from another agency to make their services better. And so, I needed to give a face for the results, and that is what produced much of the excitement for change.

Ott: But Stephen’s drive towards fully developed data analysis hasn’t quite stretched to all parts of the globe.

Here’s Adithi Pandit. Adithi is a partner at Deloitte New Zealand. She leads the public sector practice, and also leads the future of government initiative for Asia Pacific.

Pandit: What we have a real challenge around is that the tools and systems that they have to work with are actually pretty antiquated in many contexts. Across our region, for example, in the Asia Pacific, we still have government departments that are largely using paper-based systems. You have caseworkers who are out in the field, meeting with clients, and then having to trek back to the office to key up their notes. And if you think about the wasted time spent on that kind of administration, it’s really quite shocking—even things like data exchange. I sort of think data is the lifeblood of any industry and any organization.

Ott: But, as Adithi explains, the pathway from an archaic system of data keeping to a more appropriate method need not be too complicated—at least not when you are working with the right tools and experts.

How do you build public trust when introducing a new way of collecting personal data? People may be used to sharing their information differently, so how can you reassure them that their data will remain safe and secure?

Pandit:  I’ll touch on one example that I think has been quite a case study—the Aadhar approach in India. Which, really, I mean, [was] quite revolutionary; launching digital identity across the scale of population of India.

It went from a fragmented set of ration cards and paper-based identity systems to a single digital identity. To [answer] your question, though, about why it’s hard, it’s probably true that government is held to a higher standard of trust than a private sector organization.

We might hear about a social media company having a data breach, but the next day, we’re back using the same social media platform. That’s not the same for government. We rightly hold our governments to a very high standard, and trust and confidence are really important. But that shouldn’t be a barrier. There are proven ways to work around these things to actually build the right trust and ethical frameworks, and I think it’s really incumbent on the government to have that courage and leadership to make it happen.

It was a disruptive change. It wasn’t easy to implement—you imagine, again, across the scale of the country, but the paper-based system, you know, you see things getting lost. It’s also just a lot of bureaucratic burden placed on pretty vulnerable citizens. So, a lot of room for corruption, a lot of room for people being denied services because they had to queue up and wait for things, and pieces of paper weren’t trusted. But having a digital system, you actually democratize that process. You actually create a lot more transparency, a lot more controls, a lot more trust and confidence again in the system. So, I think we’ve seen that sort of transformation.

And the other thing I’d say is these are platforms. You know, they’re often called digital public infrastructure. The infrastructure part is like our roads and rails. It means that you can then run a whole bunch of new services over that digital identity. Suddenly, it becomes possible to pick up that identity and use it for whether it’s private business or person-to-person exchanges. [It’s] much easier to sell you a car or something if we can both check that our identity is validated.

Ott: Above all, Adithi has made it clear that she is applying the modernization of government, and by that we mean the efficiencies, the streamlining of services, and the breaking down of silos, to areas that help all parts of society.

Pandit:  I think [in] New Zealand […] are we putting our money into the things that are really going to matter? And that’s social investment, in outcomes. I’ve had the privilege of doing a fair bit in New Zealand over the past decade or so. That’s probably one of the most fundamental building blocks, I think, that every government can pick up, which is understanding how you invest in prevention.

So, don’t just think about education as separate from housing; separate from health. What are the investments that you can unlock that bring those things together, and how do you create those caseworker models that actually bring services together and wrap around people?

So that’s been one of the coolest things I’ve had to work on, and the other part is really just looking at operating models that are built around partnerships—bringing some of that private-sector thinking and infusing it in the right way into our government work.

Ott: Infusing is a very good word to use when thinking about the future of government. And so, Bill, we’ve heard Adithi talk about infusing the private sector and the government. But if we add to the mix modernization, efficiencies, plus all the technological innovations we are seeing, what do you think a future government could look like?

Eggers:  They’d have a number of features. I think the first would be tailored service delivery. It’s the opposite of the one-size-fits-all mentality, where the service provider makes an effort to really understand their customers and create a customized experience. In Quebec, the Transit app supports users with autism or intellectual disabilities by offering detailed guidance, landmark photos, and reminders.

So, the app really enhances independence and reduces anxiety, and can even alert family or friends if users stray from their route.

A second feature would be life–event-based delivery. This can mean anticipating citizens’ needs, sharing information on their behalf, guiding them through their likely next steps in response to a life event such as a birth, a death, a new job, going into college, and a whole host of other areas.

In Singapore, the LifeSG app assembles a whole wide variety of government programs through a single interface. Citizens can search for programs and apply online if possible because on the backend, the app facilitates all sorts of interagency data sharing, and many of these interfaces are based on life events.

A third [feature would be], you would have frictionless [delivery], where accessing the service requires little to no effort on the part of the consumer, where there are no hoops to jump through, no demands for information, no frustrating barriers. Think of it as one-click shopping or other apps that make it easy to get what you want.

And in the United Kingdom, the “Tell us once” process takes care of most of the steps involved in reporting the death of a loved one, handling all the paperwork off-site, where previously you might’ve had to go to dozens of different agencies individually to do that.

The other thing I would say is about having multichannels and a very consistent experience across multichannels, whether it’s in person, mobile, or on your laptop.

And you meet constituents where they are and within the context of their life. For example, by phone, in person, web, or mobile. And that information is always there if you need to switch to a different mode.

The last thing I would say is speed matters. When a bridge collapsed in Philadelphia in June 2023, the governor and other Pennsylvania leaders put the public utility first. And by waiving permitting and procurement regulations, this incredibly busy section [of] highway was rebuilt and reopened in a mere 12 days, when it was estimated it could take months to do.

Ott:  Wow, in the private sector there is this idea of creating customer delight. So, have you found examples of this where governments have made services faster, better, and easier to access, and it caused delight?

Eggers: Absolutely, let’s take filing taxes in Estonia. Generally, it takes about three minutes to do.

Estonia follows a once-only rule, where the government collects data once and reuses it without repeatedly asking citizens for information again. So, employers report their [employees’] salaries, enabling pre-filed, quick tax declarations. And so, in Estonia, tax day means one day where all the data is presented to you, basically just to check and validate it. And 95% of the time, the taxpayer doesn’t change anything.

Ott: Imagine being in contact with the government and only having to provide details once, which are [then] shared with the rest of the government? Well, as Bill said, that’s exactly what Estonia has done. And so, let’s hear more … Here’s Petra Holm, a digital transformation advisor from e-Estonia, to tell us about the once-only principle.

The concept is simple. As the name suggests, when dealing with government services you should only be required to fill in personal details once.

Petra Holm:

Everyone in Estonia has a digital identity—a personal code that allows us to log in and go online. There are many different platforms where we can [do] self-service. So, let’s say I want to get married. I could go to the government authority that’s going to allow me to submit the application and go through all of the motions. But most people prefer to submit an application online because you can do it from the comfort of your home, 24/7. You just need to log in, press a few buttons, choose the time to get married, and show up to meet your future spouse. So, we don’t get married online. We still get together at least once.

You can divorce online, however. Fifty-two percent of marriages in Estonia end in divorce, so you might as well just not have to meet your ex.

Ott: Estonia has been a target in the past for large-scale cyberattacks. In 2007, an attack targeted the media, banking, and government infrastructure. As a result, Estonia has become a leader in cybersecurity.

Holm: We’ve made a lot of investments to make sure that Estonia is not too easy to hack, and because we’ve been doing a pretty good job at protecting people’s data, most Estonians are not concerned about their data.

There are very few data leaks. There are very few breaches. Whenever there are any, we actually get notified by the state. That is the basis of trust in Estonia. There’s a very high level of trust between the citizens and the state.

Estonians trust their government, and when it makes mistakes, it admits it and tries to make it right. So, most Estonians are not concerned. What we care about is the ease of use of digital services.

Ott: The reason Estonia is so far advanced when it comes to operating a digital government is a result of one of the most historic events of the 20^th century: the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Holm: Necessity, really necessity, led Estonia to where we are now. Necessity is the mother of invention. We needed to provide services for our people. We’re a very sparsely populated country, but our leaders felt that despite our limited resources, people deserve great governance and easy access to services, and going digital was the most efficient way we could provide these services to our people in remote areas. It was the strategy for becoming relevant, acquiring soft power, and establishing Estonia as a geopolitical player.

It was our survival strategy. It was pretty much the only way we could make this country function, considering our limited resources and our recent past. So, we had a country to rebuild, and this was basically the most efficient way forward.

Ott: The once-only principle also has one other principle.

Holm: We basically have a three-click rule in Estonia. People don’t appreciate feeling confused. They’re not going to trust services that are complicated to use. So, however complicated the service may be in the background, for the user it must be basically three clicks.

We know that 90% of people with access to the internet use digital services. And, for example, i-voting is super popular with people over the age of 75—almost 100% of people 75-plus [in age] vote online, because you don’t have to leave home. The number of people choosing to cast their vote online through i-voting is increasing.

We are not done. Even though we are a 100% digital, 0% bureaucracy, a 100% of state-provided services, which are the majority of services that Estonians use, do have a digital version—we know we can make it better.

Ott: So, can other nations follow the example set by Estonia? Petra thinks so …

Holm: You need digital-minded leadership. Estonians were not asked whether we wanted personal codes and digital identity in 2002. What you need is political will. People are going to get on board once they start actually benefiting from the services.

They’re going to start loving them, but it takes time to create the habit, and there is a very clear legal framework in place. Once you have that figured out, it’s much easier to go through with reforms. So, I am sure that Estonia’s success can be replicated, and it can actually be done in a much shorter period of time, because we had limited resources and we had to pioneer lots of things. Now there’s a variety of things you can choose from. So, just leadership, someone needs to make that decision and stick to it.

Ott: And Bill, can you give us any examples of places where those decisions are being made and stuck to?

Eggers:  Another example is around the Department of Motor Vehicles, where I think we’ve all had interesting experiences.

They implemented a digital driver’s license on cell phones, and we architected digital payments. They also did a streamlined check-in process using digital IDs at kiosks, and an electronic car title and transfer station, which improved efficiency and expanded access to over 30 different services online.

Another example is in Denmark, where they’ve adopted a single-window approach to permitting. Denmark’s Energy Agency coordinates all wind farm permits through one contact, reducing approval time to about 10 days, and project completion to 34 months versus eight years elsewhere in the European Union.

And the other thing that we found is that there’s a very strong correlation between how well people perceive digital services and how much trust they have in government.

Ott: And then there is AI. Artificial Intelligence is beginning to play a role in every aspect of life, so its role in streamlining how governments operate should be no different. How can you transform departments that are lagging behind now that the technology is becoming so readily available?

Eggers:  I think really spending a lot of time understanding commercial best practices, and if you look at revenue agencies and what they do, there’s a lot that I think they can learn from financial services. And of course, within a lot of financial services, they’ve been using AI for decades now.

Ott: How do you see AI enhancing public services? Do you see city, state, and central government-scale integration of AI working? And can you maybe give me [some] sort of flavor of what that would look like?

Eggers: Well, I think AI’s potential impact on the public good is really immense.

Take Buenos Aires. The city introduced a chatbot app in 2019 and steadily expanded its functions over time. And by 2022, residents were able to access a whole host of social services, apply for construction permits, and report infrastructure issues, all directly through the chatbot.

So, it resulted in tens of millions of interactions, providing very consistent, efficient access to services. But achieving scale really goes beyond just user numbers. That also means integrating AI into core operational functions. The US Treasury Department has effectively leveraged AI to detect fraud in government payments, significantly boosting efficiency and saving billions of dollars.

So, to really make AI integration work, whether it’s at the city, state, or central government level, agencies need to focus on a comprehensive approach: choosing the right technology and ecosystem partners, thoroughly training staff, and cultivating strategic partnerships. And I think that sort of approach is really, really important because you want everyone to have at least a certain amount of knowledge and skills in that area.

Ott: While the financial sector has been using AI for some time, there appears to be some lag between other industries, and in particular, the government. Here’s Stephen Goldsmith again.

Goldsmith: I would guess we’re probably at 1% of adoption now, maybe less than 1%, and everybody’s interested in generative AI and AI. But the more bells and whistles, and the more advanced the technology, the clearer it is that the current public sector systems are obsolete.

And what we now have is the opportunity to produce radical improvements in the quality of data, right? The quality of insight from the data that the average public employee has. They can have access to that data and easily use it to improve their services. And we’re not nearly there yet, both in understanding how to use the tools and in understanding how they improve insight, not replace discretion, right?

We need to use generative AI to reduce the amount of commodity work done by the city employee or the state employee, and to improve the way they use their discretion. So, how does AI produce information quickly that improves the discretion of the public employee? We have a long way to go in teaching people how to use AI and then changing the culture of both teaching and government so that we can use it more quickly and better.

Ott:  So, how do you ensure that the employees receive the optimum, most up-to-date training? Bill, you touched on it a bit, but I wonder if you might expand on that.

Eggers: You can also tailor AI training to different roles that employees have, where you’re structuring it carefully to employee needs, ranging from deep technical skills for developers to just foundational user skills for frontline staff. And this is kind of a build-choose-use training model, which equips workers appropriately and is really helping them understand what they need to know depending on what their role is. There are also national initiatives to accelerate AI readiness. In Singapore, they’ve launched a comprehensive national initiative called the AI Trailblazers program, which developed 100 generative AI applications in just 100 days.

And by providing government and industry access to these shared AI tools and resources, these kinds of initiatives can boost workforce skills and really speed up the adoption of AI at scale.

Ott: Bill, how soon do you think it’ll be before the full benefits of AI, integrated into governments around the world, will begin to be felt?

Eggers:

Well, we are already seeing major benefits, whether it’s time-savings reductions of up to 80 to 90%. We’re seeing grant applications being approved much more quickly. We’re seeing benefits get out faster. So we’re already seeing [results]. We’ve identified over 200 cases of governments getting 10x levels of improvement, often through the use of AI.³

Ott:

Massive potential comes with the tech, but can other examples provide us a blueprint on how to get up to speed? Stephen Goldsmith believes so …

Goldsmith:

Singapore excels in, well, almost everything that has to do with data, right? Whether it’s data twinning or IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, we haven’t talked about IoT information [yet], which promises the next great revolution.

Barcelona has long been appreciated as a source of change. There are lots of world cities that are doing very interesting work that could serve as a model.

We have infrastructure IoT issues and operating IoT issues. So there should not be a bridge that is built in the United States without the vibration sensors that tell us where and when preventative maintenance is needed; it will extend the life cycle of [the bridge]. You could do the same thing when you’re pouring concrete. There are ways to use IoT devices to change the cement content and the length, and I could go on and on.

Generally, many of those things have slightly higher upfront costs and dramatically lower life-cycle costs. And the way we build in the United States, and around the world as well, doesn’t give enough incentive for the life-cycle costs.

So that’s one way to think about it. You could also think about—we have a project about how do you use IoT devices to understand the quality of the air, or the extent of the heat that adversely affects community public health. So, where are individuals in stressed communities facing obstacles as a result of bad air or heat?

You can measure that in real time, and you can use the data to figure out how to intervene.

Ott:

Bill, any tips for scaling AI effectively and efficiently?

Eggers:

Well, you want to partner for expertise. Collaborating with technical partners—whether it’s in the private sector, universities, nonprofits, or labs—can help government leaders really gain the fluency they need to make appropriate AI decisions. And then you’ve got certification and fluency programs.

Getting the right training in the hands of the right workers is important. It doesn’t necessarily require a huge lift right now. And there’s also [this]: I think we’re all going to have our own personalized AI tutors, who are going to have a lot of expertise and information at our disposal at all times that we’re going to be able to use, essentially to get up to speed and to stay fluent around AI.

Ott:

Ultimately, the aim of the modernization—improving efficiencies of government—is to make the way they operate more effective and improve services for society. Stephen Goldsmith has aspirations that all of these things working together could change the way governments operate.

Goldsmith: 

What I hope to do is drive innovation at the broader scale that lets us look at causation and preemptive solutions, not reactionary solutions. And one way to summarize it quickly is to say, we have a form of government that’s reactive.

You call a call center, you are a resident, you complain about a problem, and the city sends somebody out to fix it. But why doesn’t the streetlight tell you in advance, I’m about to burn out? Why doesn’t the road sensor tell you that you’re about to have a pothole?

Why do we operate the government in a reactive way instead of preemptively? We don’t have to do that any longer.

When they [governments] satisfy the expectations of their residents, they improve trust. When they improve trust, we have an opportunity to do bigger and better things in the city, state, or national government. So, the ability to use technological tools to meet the expectations of residents and improve this trust is critical to the future of our democracy.

Ott: Bill, if you were to sort of sum it up, what are the conclusions that were reached in the Government Trends 2025?

Eggers: Well, certainly what we’ve been talking about in terms of adopting AI and digital tools where they can really revolutionize service delivery. Simplifying complex bureaucratic procedures can enhance agility and responsiveness. Tackling complex societal problems requires partnerships between government, the private sector, nonprofits, and communities.

Also, by using innovative funding mechanisms, governments can attract investment from the private sector and effectively mitigate some financial risk in big public infrastructure projects. Investing in workforce capabilities—as we’ve been talking about, particularly around digital and AI skills—can boost productivity, enable governments to navigate these rapid technological shifts, and create what some people are calling super workers where they’re AI enhanced, essentially augmented, and able to do things that simply would’ve been impossible before.

Ott: Deloitte publishes its Government Trends report every year, and, as we’ve heard, this year’s report focuses on the technology and innovation that’s driving modernization and ensuring that those values that are critical to the public are delivered on time, on budget, and to a high standard.

Miguel Eiras Antunes is a leader in Deloitte’s global government practice. According to Miguel, the quality of life for all citizens is at the heart of the 2025 report. Here he is to share his thoughts.

Miguel Eiras Antunes: This year’s Government Trends report focuses on how governments are improving their capacity to deliver on the big things. One of the trends at the heart of this effort is how governments can deliver a better quality of life for their citizens. Governments face an enormous task: creating economic and social conditions that enable each citizen to thrive.

Some governments are actively working to improve the quality of life by tackling affordability, making services more accessible, and designing physical and digital infrastructure to better serve constituents. This involves refreshing policy interventions to expand access and improve affordability, as well as designing both physical and digital infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of communities.

Currently, we see governments reimagining policies and forging innovative partnerships to create and enhance essential services; services that are more affordable and accessible. Investments in infrastructure are not just about convenience; they are about rebuilding a sense of purpose and fostering stronger social connections.

These efforts will likely be important in combating social isolation and loneliness, and in encouraging resilient and engaged communities. The commitment to improving quality of life underscores the importance of creating environments where individuals and communities can flourish. 

Learn more about this quality-of-life trend in our Government Trends 2025 report.

Ott:

Thank you for listening to Government’s Future Frontiers with me, Tanya Ott, brought to you by Deloitte Insights. I want to thank all of our guests today: Stephen Goldsmith, Petra Holm, Adithi Pandit, and, of course, Bill Eggers.

Next episode, we’ll be looking at the future of transport. While self-driving cars are making the headlines, there is a quiet revolution going on in the background. Low-emission vehicles and resilient infrastructure networks are at the heart of where the road is currently heading.

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This podcast is produced by Deloitte. The views and opinions expressed by podcast speakers and guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of Deloitte. This podcast provides general information only and is not intended to constitute advice or services of any kind. For additional information about Deloitte, go to deloitte.com/about.