contributors
Jun Yi Lim
Enterprise Business Development Manager, RGP
October 28, 2025 • 3 Min Read
Citizens expect government services to be as seamless as the apps they use every day. But here’s the inconvenient truth: governments are pouring billions into digital transformation, yet their IT shared services are buckling under pressure.
Outdated processes, mounting debt, and spiraling demand are straining systems at the very moment performance matters most. The good news? New models and smarter tools are already proving government IT can keep pace.
The Role of IT Shared Services
At their core, IT shared services were designed to centralize support and infrastructure, including help desk, security, networks, and application management, across multiple agencies. The model promised reduced costs, greater efficiency, and consistent service delivery. But cracks are now showing. Gartner reports that IT teams are handling nearly 10x more requests than just five years ago, with response times slowing by 40%.
Simply put, the traditional model isn’t built for today’s scale, speed, or citizen expectations.
So, What Now?
Digital transformation is only as strong as the shared services behind it. Yet governments that rely on fragmented, legacy systems risk falling behind in service delivery, security, and public trust. The reality is clear: shared services can’t keep up.
To meet today’s demands, forward-looking government agencies are moving beyond patchwork fixes, adopting platform-based approaches, intelligent automation, and centralized identity systems that enable IT to scale effectively.
The path forward for government IT can be about building a foundation that can scale, adapt, and deliver at the speed of citizen expectations. Several innovations already point the way:
- Automated identity and account management that eliminates manual errors, reduces IT lapses, and ensures real-time provisioning as employees move between roles or agencies.
- Centralized identity integration delivers secure, seamless access across agencies, minimizing redundancies and improving both security and user experience.
- AI-enabled service platforms that provide 24/7 intelligent support, instantly resolving repetitive requests and freeing human IT teams to focus on higher-value, strategic initiatives.
- RGP’s rIQ™ Innovation Accelerator, built on ServiceNow, enhances out-of-the-box GenAI with human-guided intelligence—strengthening decisions, automating complex processes, and embedding governance at scale.
Together, these shifts represent a tangible rethinking of how IT can better serve both government employees and the citizens who rely on them every day.
The Path Ahead
For governments, the challenge isn’t whether to modernize, but how fast they can adapt. The path forward means embracing platform thinking, integrating AI responsibly, and designing services around real user needs.
Contact our RGP experts to learn how we’re helping public sector organizations rebuild their IT services for speed, scale, and trust.