How governments can harness the power of automation at scale

Governments around the world are under pressure to operate more efficiently, serve citizens better, and provide more satisfying working environments for their employees. Lessons from the private sector show automation at scale has the potential to serve those purposes, but to get there governments must become more strategic in their approach, embrace new technologies, and be prepared to act at scale. Process automation and technologies based on artificial intelligence can bring benefits across numerous functions of government, including much lower operating costs, more efficient processes, and less wastage and errors. McKinsey estimates that as many as four out of five processes in HR, finance, and application processing are at least partially automatable, with the potential to reduce costs by at least 30 percent. The benefits of automation can be achieved relatively quickly.