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By Will Greer and Matthew Cornelius
By Will Greer and Matthew Cornelius
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COMMENTARY | As AI increasingly handles routine tasks, human workers must be equipped for strategic, creative and judgment-intensive roles.
The public sector faces a new challenge. Agencies must deliver on mission objectives with smaller workforces and fewer resources than ever before. Agency leaders have a choice: understand, deploy and utilize emerging technologies such as generative AI to address the challenge, or continue to use previous semi-automated workforce management tools and hope for the best. While organizational changes grab headlines, a less discussed challenge is bubbling to the surface: antiquated HR systems that limit federal HR leaders’ ability to truly thrive in this evolving landscape.
The transformation window is narrowing. Here are five steps public sector HR leaders can consider as they look to position themselves for success in an AI-driven world.
1. Embrace the Cloud
Cloud platforms aren’t just trendy — they address long-standing issues with enterprise systems. Moving to cloud-based solutions gets agencies out of the hardware management business just when IT resources are becoming scarce. A unified, modern platform can replace the patchwork of legacy systems that currently occupy multiple resources and reduce timely responsiveness.
2. Simplify Security and Compliance
Modern cloud solutions come with built-in zero-trust security and automatic updates — features that outdated systems simply can’t provide. With security vulnerabilities emerging daily, agencies can’t afford to patch systems manually while threats evolve at machine speed.
3. Master the Digital Workforce
AI built into cloud human capital management (HCM) platforms offers a significant opportunity for HR leaders to directly support the agency’s mission and boost employee productivity in government operations while enabling human workers to focus on strategic, creative and high-judgment tasks.
But AI isn’t just about chatbots anymore: autonomous AI agents are now becoming digital employees — capable of proactive decision-making and complex task orchestration.
HR leaders face a choice: manage this digital workforce strategically or watch IT departments make decisions about their future workforce composition. These AI agents need onboarding, training and performance evaluation to ensure they are meeting the agency’s goals, just like human employees.
4. Reimagine Talent Strategies
Agency missions and objectives are certain to evolve in the coming years. As AI reshapes work itself, job definitions also need to be reshaped. Skills-based approaches are the new reality — emphasizing adaptable capabilities over static roles. Modern HCM systems can map where human skills exist and identify critical reskilling or upskilling opportunities to ensure that an agency is as capable of delivering on tomorrow’s requirements as it is today.
5. Transform Business, Not Just Technology
The biggest mistake? Thinking successful tech deployment equals transformation success. In fact, technology is the enabler, not the goal.
Real HCM transformation means reimagining how work gets done, anticipating changes in agency mission and objectives in coming years and understanding or addressing gaps in agency skillsets needed to deliver the results the future will require. A target operating model (TOM) provides the roadmap — defining roles, processes and capabilities needed for the future state of the organization and its goals. Without an innovative framework, new features cannot be integrated smoothly or measured effectively, becoming expensive distractions rather than strategic advantages.
Looking Ahead
Federal agencies face a multifaceted challenge: pressure to modernize HCM and workforce systems and integrate AI, all while simultaneously maintaining operations. Outdated infrastructure and antiquated approaches will not enable the pace of progress needed to thrive in the current environment. This isn’t about incremental improvement anymore. It’s about fundamental reimagination of how modern government operates in an AI-augmented world. As AI increasingly handles routine tasks, human workers must be equipped for strategic, creative and judgment-intensive roles.
The agencies that act decisively now will be best positioned to thrive going forward. The question isn’t whether change will come — it’s whether the public sector, private sector and other domains will lead it or be forced to react to it. By embracing a holistic perspective that encompasses the entire HR business landscape, we can ensure that the benefits of this transformation are realized across the board, leading to a more robust and agile workforce.
Matthew T. Cornelius is managing director for Federal Industry at Workday, leading go-to-market strategy, planning and communications. He previously held senior roles in government and industry, including positions at the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, the Alliance for Digital Innovation and nearly a decade in the executive branch focused on technology and cybersecurity policy.
Will Greer is a principal in KPMG’s Advisory practice, helping government and higher education clients improve efficiency in areas like accounting, budgeting and HR. He previously led Workday’s U.S. Government industry team and has held leadership roles at Accenture, SAP and consulting startups.