Giving Compass' Take:

• The government will face challenges because of how technology is transforming our productivity. Jerry Mechling outlines tech trends and how they will directly affect the public sector. 

•  How can the private sector mitigate these technology challenges for the public sector? Can they work together and provide public good in the most effective way?

• Technology is not only present in government systems but is growing in the education sector as well. 


We've all been part of an amazing digital revolution for several generations, one that has transformed not only our personal and working lives but also our systems of commerce and governance. But what we haven't really grasped is just how much the power of technology has grown and how recently so much of that growth has happened.

And, most important, we haven't really recognized or prepared for onrushing and dramatically disruptive changes, propelled by this ongoing digital revolution, in jobs within and among larger communities of interaction.

But while the digital future now requires new governance and leadership, we've largely been asleep at the switch. Clearly, that needs to change. But to get a handle on the task before us, we need to understand the key trends:

  • Exponential productivity growth: Digital power -- the performance per dollar of digital processors, data storage, and data communications -- has roughly doubled every two years or less, growing some 33.6 million times over the past 50 years.
  • Disruptive change in jobs: Oxford University researchers have estimated that computerization is likely to significantly change or eliminate some 47 percent of jobs over the next 10 to 20 years.
  • Larger communities of interaction: Digital economies of scale -- as with the internet and cloud computing -- have enabled products, services and social interactions to be produced and consumed within larger and sometimes global communities.
  • Governance: We have long assembled technology specialists and vendors to help with applications on a project-by-project or program-by-program basis. But what we need is to assemble leaders and develop strategies for larger communities of interaction.
  • Leadership: New governance will require better engagement and decision-making by the full range of government's stakeholders.

While each group and actor will have their own perspective and interests, the decision process must analyze and then decide how to bring ever-more-powerful technology to bear on the ultimate goal: promoting long-term public value.

Read the full article about technology challenges for the government by Jerry Mechling at Governing Magazine.