Priority 2

Start with the foundation, scale the experience

Smiling young couple sitting on steps, looking at a phone together.

Cartoon of a cyclist in a helmet checking his smartphone next to his bicycle.

Building a great citizen experience starts with knowing who is on the other end of the line. And the data² shows that public sector organizations have been quietly making the right investments to get their arms around who is in their community.

Customer data platform (CDP) adoption in the public sector is up 14 points since 2024. Customer relationship management (CRM) adoption is up 10 points. Customer engagement platform (CEP) adoption is up 15. These aren't flashy investments. They're foundational ones. And public sector organizations that have made them are already seeing the difference: CDP and CEP users are significantly more likely than non-users to strongly agree they have a deep understanding of their citizens (24% vs. 16%). This infrastructure is the foundation that makes everything else possible.

The gap between confidence and reality

The foundation matters because the gap between organizational confidence and citizen experience is still wide. Seventy-two percent of organizations say they have a deep understanding of their citizens' needs, preferences, and expectations.

Only 32% of citizens agree. That disconnect shows up in how organizations communicate, too. Only 16% describe their digital communications as conversational, authentic, and dynamic. Knowing their citizens and truly understanding them are two different things, and the data makes that distinction clear.

Percent agreement that organizations deeply understand citizen needs

Confidence is growing, but the work isn't done

The momentum is real. Public sector organizations are significantly more likely to say they have a deep understanding of their citizens than they were in 2024 (97% vs. 89%). That growing confidence reflects the infrastructure investment: more data, better systems, and clearer pictures of who citizens are and what they need. The barrier that remains is connection. Thirty-six percent of organizations cite linking citizen data across departments and channels as a major challenge to genuine citizen understanding.

Percent agreement by maturity level that organizations deeply understand citizens served

What it looks like when it works

Public sector organizations at the 'leader' level are significantly more likely than those at the 'beginner' level to strongly agree they have a deep understanding of their citizens. That understanding compounds. It shows up in personalization, in responsiveness, as well as in the ability to reach citizens in the right channel at the right moment.

The public sector organizations that have built the foundation aren't just scoring better on understanding metrics. They're delivering better outcomes across the board, and the next priority shows exactly what that makes possible.

The AI Moment

AI use cases in the public sector increased 50% between 2024 and 2026. The top AI use cases adopted include: answering citizen questions and resolving issues quickly (e.g chatbots), supporting citizen segmentation and targeting, and analyzing citizen data. These aren’t experimental pilots, they’re operational tools that connect directly to citizen understanding.

Organizations that have connected their AI investments to their citizen data infrastructure (their CDPs, CRMs, and CEPs) are the ones turning experimentation into operational capability. For public sector leaders, working GenAI into day-to-day engagement isn't a future state: 45% are already using it regularly, compared to just 17% of organizations just starting out on their digital maturity journey.

Top three current AI use cases in public sector

²Unless otherwise noted, the statistics cited in this report are based on two blind online surveys commissioned by Twilio, designed and analyzed by Lawless Research, and fielded from April to May 2026