Government digital transformation and opportunities

From working with legacy systems to ensuring citizen trust, digital transformation in government is no small task.

As we move towards a world where technologies become more refined and where citizens have the knowledge to utilise them effectively in their daily lives, governments around the world are under increasing pressure to deliver smarter, faster and more secure digital services.

In this article, we’ll discuss what digital government transformation is and reveal some of the barriers currently stalling its progress. We’ll offer some examples of prevailing strategic frameworks that are being put in place, and then we’ll dissect how modern platforms such as Salesforce are empowering this transformation.

Here are a few of the key takeaways in this article:

• Cloud adoption is rising across Australian government departments.
• Legacy systems and siloed data remain major barriers.
• Digital trust and cyber resilience are critical success factors.
• Platforms like Salesforce enable secure, citizen-centric service delivery.

Much of the data used throughout this article can be found in our Connected Government Report 2025, which explores how the public, civil servants, and IT teams in public sector organisations are thinking and feeling about the state of public services and the future of AI.

The Australian government has a good track record of implementing reliable digital services within its departments, though it recognises the need to continue this push. By 2030, their vision is to have an infrastructure in place that delivers simple, secure and connected public services. The following five missions are considered vital for the success of this digital strategy:

1. Delivering for all people and businesses
2. Providing simple and seamless services
3. Futureproofing government departments
4. Creating trusted, secure platforms
5. Building data-driven, digital foundations

Based on the government’s most recent digital government plan , there are several key areas of focus to meet these goals, including adoption of digital cloud services, digital inclusion, APS workforce support and uplift and cyber resilience.

When we talk about a government’s digital transformation, we’re referring to the modernisation of government systems, services and processes. Many of the best private companies around the world are leading the way with digital innovation to make their customers’ experiences more satisfying and streamlined. And it’s clear that constituents now expect the same level of digital infrastructure when accessing government services online.

Based on our research, 74% of people encountered problems using digital government services within the past two years. And while the Australian Government Architecture (AGA ) is making solid strides with the implementation of a digital transformation framework , it’s clear that there’s still a long way to go.

But what does this look like in practice?

Some of the key drivers of a robust digital transformation, within a governmental context, include:

• Improving citizen experience across governmental agencies and platforms
• Replacing legacy, manual and paper-based workflows
• Enhancing transparency and access for increased public trust
• Using secure cloud infrastructure and data integration

While it’s difficult to quantify which countries are achieving the best digital transformation in government, Denmark is often lauded as being a world leader in this regard. This is partly due to their commitment to sustainability and cross-sector collaboration, as well as the importance they place on citizen input for desired outcomes.

Thanks to the success that other countries are seeing with their own transformations, the Australian government is under pressure to ensure Australians receive the same level of quality service across federal, state and local levels. Up to 73% of government/constituent interactions use some form of digital technology, highlighting just how prevalent the need for this transformation has become.

The COVID pandemic acted as a major wake-up call for many governments across the world, with the sudden external shock highlighting how inadequate digital infrastructure was when put under severe pressure. This, coupled with the rapid rise in advanced AI-driven technology, has meant that governments can no longer get away with providing poor services.

Some of the other key driving factors behind this transformation include:

• Outdated technologies and legacy systems: Many systems that government processes were built on are no longer adequate for dealing with the complexities of modern-day expectations and interconnectedness.
• Cybersecurity and geopolitical risks: Older digital infrastructure is at risk of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, which could prove catastrophic across all levels of government.
• Fiscal pressures: Budgets are often blown on bloated systems and the lack of reliability that comes with them, and governments across the world are expected to do more with increasingly limited funds.
• Inclusion gaps: People who aren’t as tech-savvy as others risk missing out on access to vital government information and services, which can have a negative impact on their overall well-being.

In an ideal world, all governments would be able to provide the best service for their constituents at all times. Unfortunately, the real world is a little more complicated than that.

While many government leaders want to implement a strong digital transformation across all government departments, they’re often hamstrung by multi-layered challenges, as well as factors that are out of their control.

Let’s take a look at some of the main reasons why governments sometimes struggle to bring about this transformation.

As well as the legacy systems we’ve already mentioned, businesses also have to deal with outdated technology tools and ineffective processes. Up to 63% of government workers believe they need enhanced workplace tools and digital technologies within their departments, further highlighting the issue.

If people are used to one way of doing something, they can often be reluctant to make adjustments. This can sometimes include individuals in governmental departments themselves who will stubbornly avoid adopting new technologies, further slowing overall implementation.

The success of this transformation depends upon individuals with the knowledge and expertise to build the necessary tools and infrastructure. Currently, the demand for digital, AI and cybersecurity talent is exceeding the supply. The government needs to deliver education and training programs to counteract this shortage.

Every department will have its own vast sets of data. And within legacy systems, most of this data is inaccessible to other departments. This lack of integration has created huge data siloes, making cross-agency collaboration tricky to achieve.

So far, we’ve taken a close look at why digital transformation within government is important and what kinds of challenges governments often face.

Across the globe, governments are making great strides in developing departmental services that are suitable for the expectations of modern citizens. We’re living in exciting times when it comes to the world of digital technology, and the opportunities to create long-lasting, enhanced solutions have never been greater.

Some of the most important opportunity areas for government departments to explore include:

1. Integrating and unifying citizen data across agencies
2. Empowering public servants with automation and agentic AI
3. Boosting cyber resilience with zero-trust architecture
4. Improving service delivery with low-code platforms
5. Building digital trust through transparency and consent
6. Delivering mobile-first, inclusive citizen experiences

Let’s take a look at each of these government strategies in a little more detail.

Historically, government departments and independent agencies have mostly worked separately. This has meant that whenever a citizen has had to access several services simultaneously, they’ve had to enter personal details multiple times, which has often been a frustrating process.

The effects of an approach like this are unwieldy data siloes and fragmented service delivery.

It’s a clear example of where the public sector is lagging behind private businesses, as only 28% of IT leaders believe their data quality is sufficiently ready to take advantage of AI (compared to 46% of other industries).

However, powerful tools are now available to help unify citizen data. With Data Cloud from Salesforce, governmental departments and businesses are able to take the data from their multiple departments or agencies and integrate it into a single data platform. These new, interoperable data systems are then capable of delivering digital services and enabling real-time data sharing across departments.

It’s difficult to discuss a digital transformation without mentioning artificial intelligence (AI). It’s the driving force behind much of this change, with agentic AI, in particular, beginning to make a real difference to workflows and outputs.

Within a governmental context, departments and government employees can now use agentic AI to automate many time-consuming, manual tasks, such as eligibility checks for certain requests and pre-approvals. It can help summarise complex case files to speed up the decision-making process, and with robotic process automation (RPA) in place, data entry and document processing tasks can be completed much faster.

This also enables a government to scale operations effectively without the need to rely on a bloated workforce, which is essential for countries with growing populations.

Our customers have been leveraging our AgentForce software to assist with such operations. Our all-in-one agentic AI solution is perfect for businesses and government departments looking to deploy AI agents across vital operations; it delivers deep data integration and enhanced monitoring to help organisations keep on top of things at all times.

Older government systems are frequently at risk of sophisticated cyber attacks and data threats. It’s a fundamental reason why all governments need to build their transformed digital infrastructure and services with modern security features, as the data they handle is often among the most sensitive data that exists.

Many governments and private sector businesses are now adopting zero-trust architecture (ZTA), a cybersecurity model that requires verification for access requests at all times, regardless of whether they’re internal or external requests. It relies on microsegmentation to break networks into smaller sections, safeguarding the entire system in the event that one segment is breached.

This also helps government departments remain compliant with vital initiatives and regulations, such as the Infosec Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) and the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) .

At Salesforce, we recognise the fundamental need for enhanced data security. Our Shield 2.0 solution is designed to protect our customers’ critical data through advanced encryption, audit behaviour logs and real-time event monitoring.

Building an improved digital infrastructure for the public sector doesn’t need to be as complicated as it sounds. Leading platforms now enable government departments to deploy simplified low-code, drag-and-drop tools for their constituents. By streamlining the process and making things as easy as possible for people, these tools enable public sector workers to decrease IT backlogs rapidly and reduce wait times.

Our Government CRM platform is the perfect solution for delivering first-class, user-friendly services to constituents around the world. With a smooth combination of automation and low-code applications, we provide government departments with the ability to scale as needed while retaining a high level of productivity across vital government services.

Public sector organisations have a duty to handle citizen data in an ethical, responsible manner, just as all private companies do. But 73% of people are concerned about the unethical use of AI when related to how data is used, and that’s driven in part by well-documented examples of large companies not fulfilling their data responsibilities properly.

Government departments can counter this by implementing transparent data policies and consent-based data sharing across all applications and services, with the goal of giving constituents maximum control over their data and building trust.

If we go back to our Denmark example from earlier, you can see the importance that trust plays in creating a reliable digital government infrastructure:

At Salesforce, we provide our customers and government departments with powerful trust-building tools and features through our Einstein Trust Layer, each designed to protect and secure data and improve the use of AI within services.

One of the biggest challenges that government departments face is making their services accessible to all constituents, regardless of IT proficiency and language. For Australia specifically, this includes giving greater agency to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Australia has already made great strides in this regard with its Framework for Governance of Indigenous Data (GID ), but there’s always an opportunity to do more. Currently, only 13% of government service issues are solved through self-service, compared to 45% across other industries, putting a lot of pressure on call centre staff to resolve problems.

This can be countered by deploying a multilingual, mobile-first approach built around a human-centred design. Governments should also make sure that their services are available at all times for a complete user experience.

One government body that has taken proactive steps towards building a powerful digital infrastructure for its constituents is the Victorian Government, which announced a contract extension with Salesforce in June 2025 to continue providing critical support in implementing Victoria’s innovative digital capability program and strategy.

In particular, Victoria has emphasised delivering secure cloud experiences and unifying citizen services. Salesforce continues to enhance and support back-office efficiencies across vital agencies, including those within the health, energy and justice sectors.

As we continue moving into a more integrated, digitised world, the importance of government agencies committing to enhanced digital transformations has never been clearer. Every day, citizens are becoming more familiar with digital tools and applications, and their expectations for governments to provide seamless digital services are understandable.

Fortunately, governments aren’t alone in this undertaking. With the support of powerful digital platforms such as Salesforce, they’re able to develop reliable, user-friendly infrastructures built with trust and transparency as core pillars.

If you like the sound of what we can offer, then get in touch today and secure your free 30-day trial to help you decide whether Salesforce is the right partner for you.