Using agentic AI to create a more productive workforce
AI, GenAI and agentic AI will transform the way governments work. Jennifer Robinson, global strategic advisor for SAS’ public sector practice, explains the critical link between skills, AI and productivity – and how organisations should ready for change
Fifteen years ago, I would not have believed that my office would be phone-free or that meetings could be held virtually.
Today’s work environment would have seemed impossible back then. And as we look to the future – say another fifteen years from now – it’s hard to imagine how much more change is to come.
Going forward, we can expect to see AI, GenAI and agentic AI transform our work. And this is no less true for those who work in government departments and the wider public sector than any other.
Gene Alvarez, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner said that this year’s top strategic technology trends “span AI imperatives and risks, new frontiers of computing and human-machine synergy,” and added that tracking these trends would help technology leaders shape the future of their organisations with responsible and ethical innovation.
AI and GenAI adoption is lagging, but not for long
Workforce shortages, heavy workloads, and AI skills gaps impact productivity. While many are all too familiar with workforce shortages and heavy workloads, some civil servants are still learning about AI. They may not know that AI encompasses a broad range of technologies that enable machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. And they may not know that GenAI, a subset of AI, is able to produce new content based on what it “learns”.
According to Forrester’s 2024 data, 35% of global CISOs and CIOs consider exploring and deploying use cases for generative AI (GenAI) to improve employee productivity as a top priority.
Data, AI, and GenAI can benefit the public sector. Machines can handle backlogs and tedious tasks. They excel at mundane and complex data reviews, freeing employees to focus on tasks requiring creativity, intuition and empathy.
A recent Coleman Parkes study found that 81% of governments using GenAI have experienced operational cost savings and 89% have experienced improved employee satisfaction.
According to Joshua Davies, senior industry consultant at SAS, “As government agencies increase their uptake of GenAI to complete mundane activities quickly, employees will be able to focus on providing more transparent and responsible community engagement.”
As machines are used to a greater extent, workforce shortages may be less about a lack of employees and more about a lack of employees with the right skills. Many public sector organisations aren’t readying their workforce with new skills. The Coleman Parkes study uncovered that only a minority of respondents say that their government provides adequate training for AI (49%) and GenAI (39%).
The idea of learning how to use AI may be overwhelming to many civil servants. Fortunately for them, more people will be users of AI systems rather than creators of them. For that reason, being open to and comfortable with using new systems will be important for a large portion of the workforce. For those who will perform analysis and create AI models, their work will be made easier with the use of a data and AI platform with “no code/low code” tools that use visual interfaces, drag-and-drop features, and pre-built components. Advances in these tools, along with GenAI models like Copilot and ChatGPT, enable more employees to analyse data with minimal or no coding. This empowers non-data scientists to make data-driven decisions, foster innovation, and enhance productivity across departments.
“The public sector is sitting on a massive amount of data. AI and GenAI will democratise access to data and decisions to a lot of civil servants and be an opportunity for upskilling and reskilling people to bridge the existing major lack of resources,” says Fred Labat, director of analytics and economics business value engineering at SAS.
Agentic AI is on the rise
Gartner believes that agentic AI is the number one trend that will significantly impact people’s work.
Agentic AI is a system that orchestrates AI models with data, rules, and advanced analytics tools to perform multi-step tasks and solve complex problems without human intervention or prompts. These ‘agents’ autonomously make decisions and take actions to achieve human-defined goals, enhancing productivity and efficiency. It can assist, offload and augment human work or traditional applications.
Gartner expects that at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made by agentic AI by 2028, up from 0% in 2024.
Why should the public sector pay attention to agentic AI? Simply put, it can help with the workforce shortage, a perennial challenge, and an overload of work. Public servants have had success with digital assistants, but they are designed to perform a specific task and typically offer a predefined response based on information they have access to.
Agentic AI is more advanced, performing complex tasks without explicit instructions from a person. It uses machine learning algorithms to learn from interactions, improving its performance every time. The promise of agentic AI is huge for a more productive workforce.
AI policies, guidance and governance are emerging
For many in government, using data to its full potential and deploying AI are still unfamiliar concepts. While they may hear the buzzwords, they often don’t understand what AI truly means and therefore probably don’t grasp the advantages it offers.
Now is the time to introduce employees to AI and GenAI concepts and guardrails. It’s time to upskill and understand the value of data, learn basic data literacy and establish data and AI governance standards.
In addition to training and implementing policies for data and AI use, it will be important to determine which tasks are best suited for AI enhancement. Until employees experience the benefits of AI in their daily work, they may have concerns or doubts about its value.
Organisations will need to create a positive and supportive environment for AI adoption and effectively address employee concerns.
For more thoughtful insights about public sector strategy and innovation from Jennifer and her peers at SAS, please visit the Public Sector Trends hub.
This article was originally published on the SAS Voices blog and is repurposed here with permission from SAS.
About the author
Jennifer Robinson
Jennifer is global strategic advisor, SAS public sector, working to help governments maximise the use of their data through data integration, data management, and analytics. Jennifer has a background in software development and local government. She co-wrote the book A Practical Guide to Analytics for Government and is featured in the book Smart Cities, Smart Future. In addition to writing articles and blogs about data-driven governing, she speaks to government leaders about emerging technologies and how to strategically adopt them.
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