Building next-gen government
People today engage with government services and have expectations shaped by their experience of the private sector.
They expect services to be fast, intuitive, personalised, and accessible. The bar has been set by the apps on their phones and the platforms they use daily. Meeting that bar while managing legacy infrastructure, constrained budgets, and the complexity of public accountability is the defining challenge of modern government.
It is a challenge that the world’s most digitally advanced nations have already begun to meet. Estonia completes a tax return in under five minutes. India’s Digital Stack has made government services accessible to over a billion citizens.
These are not distant ambitions, they are working realities, and they offer a clear signal of what is possible. Ireland is on this journey too, with the ambition, the talent, and the technology partnerships to become a genuine European leader in digital government.
The Irish Government’s recently updated National Digital and AI Strategy, Digital Ireland: Connecting our People, Securing our Future, sets out the Government’s ambition and vision to 2030 to ensure Ireland remains a digital leader in an increasingly competitive global environment. Twenty high-level objectives and 90 deliverables are set out in the strategy, reflecting the breadth of activity across the Government system.
Ireland is no doubt at a pivotal moment in its digital public sector transformation journey.
Next-gen model
The destination we are travelling to is what Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) describes as ‘next-gen government’, a public services model that is people-centric, data-driven, resilient, and equitable.
Several pillars underpin this digital transformation. Enhanced government services mean moving beyond transactional interactions to proactive, personalised engagement across a person’s full lifecycle: from birth registration and education to healthcare, social welfare, and retirement.
Artificial intelligence is now a board-level priority across sectors, including the public sector. TCS, a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has developed industry-wide libraries of AI use cases, enabling public sector clients to identify and deploy the models most relevant to their needs.
Applications range from back-office automation and fraud detection to healthcare triage and benefits processing, delivering faster, more accurate outcomes while freeing up skilled public servants for more complex casework.
Underpinning all of this is cloud. Increasingly, governments are recognising that how and where they store and process data is not merely a technical question, it is a matter of national interest. Sovereign cloud, a purpose-built environment that keeps data within defined jurisdictions and under demonstrable organisational control, is becoming a strategic priority across Europe.
With regulations such as GDPR and DORA tightening data residency requirements, and geopolitical uncertainty adding further pressure, the case for sovereign infrastructure has never been stronger. Gartner forecasts sovereign cloud infrastructure spending will reach $80 billion globally in 2026, a 35.6 per cent increase year-on-year.
MyFutureFund
Perhaps nowhere is TCS’s role in Ireland’s digital public sector more tangible than in the delivery of MyFutureFund, Ireland’s auto-enrolment retirement savings scheme, which went live in January 2026 and is now supporting and benefiting over 800,000 workers in planning and building savings for their retirement.
Following a rigorous government procurement process, TCS was selected by the Department of Social Protection as the technology delivery and operations partner for the programme.
Leveraging its TCS BaNCS™ platform and ecosystem, TCS is the strategic managed service provider for MyFutureFund, delivering from its Letterkenny-based global delivery centre, a comprehensive range of service areas from administration to digital public infrastructure.
In this service delivery model, TCS provides the operational engine that enables the auto-enrolment scheme to function: enrolment processing, participant and employer services, contribution handling, platform operations, cybersecurity controls, reporting, and service management.
Deepak Chaudhari, Country Head for Ireland at TCS, is clear about what the programme represents. “We want to make sure it is well echoed that TCS can take up large, strategic national programmes of work and deliver them on time, within budget, and at the best quality possible.
“We are incredibly proud to play a major role in enabling the financial wellbeing of over 800,000 employees in Ireland through this initiative. By the time employees retire, they should have a well-invested fund to support them. It is a very meaningful initiative, and we are proud of our role in bringing that to people in Ireland.”
MyFutureFund is more than a technology deployment. It is evidence that complex, citizen-centred national digital infrastructure can be designed, delivered, and operationalised effectively in Ireland.
Global scale, local roots
TCS has been present in Ireland for over two decades, but the depth of its Irish commitment has grown significantly in recent years. The company now employs over 1,000 people in Ireland and serves more than 50 clients across the public sector, financial services, insurance, and beyond.
The investment by TCS in a global delivery centre in Letterkenny was a deliberate strategic choice, supporting regional talent development and building the delivery capability that large national programmes require.
Digital government horizon
Ireland has the ambition, the policy foundations, and the technology partnerships to become a leading digital government within Europe. With AI adoption accelerating across the public sector, sovereign cloud frameworks maturing, and landmark programmes like MyFutureFund now live and delivering real impact for Irish workers and families, the building blocks of next-gen government are firmly taking shape.
Transformation of this scale is a long-term endeavour. With over two decades of commitment to Ireland and a global track record of delivering complex national programmes, TCS brings both the capability and the long-term dedication that transformational partnerships demand.
Ireland’s digital future will be built by many hands. The ambition is clear, the momentum is real, and the opportunity for government, for citizens, and for the country, is considerable.
W: tcs.com
