A PwC and Microsoft playbook that explores the power of agentic AI for the Public Sector

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Agentic AI has the potential to deliver significant benefits across almost every industry, with the public sector among the greatest beneficiaries. By integrating agentic AI into public services, governments can not only enhance responsiveness and citizen satisfaction but also stimulate economic growth through automation, increased productivity, and data-driven decision-making.   

Already, AI agents are improving the value and delivery of services while helping organisations anticipate future needs. When well-designed, these systems enable continual improvement. With the right infrastructure and governance, agentic AI can empower organisations to act as dynamic agents of change and help support broader economic growth objectives. 

Created with leading experts from PwC and Microsoft, this guide walks through the essential steps to move from digital maturity to intelligent automation, helping public institutions deliver faster, smarter and more responsive services. 

Artificial intelligence is set to revolutionise our lives and work. Past technological breakthroughs from the personal computer to the internet brought big changes, but AI promises to supercharge individual and business capabilities in exponentially greater ways—especially with the potential of agentic AI. 

By streamlining operations, accelerating workflows, and integrating processes, agentic AI enhance decision-making, improve efficiency, and free human capacity for strategic work. Secure, compliant, and scalable across departments, these agents help public sector organisations unlock new value and transform the delivery of services. 

Public sector organisations face constant pressure to deliver more and better services with fewer resources, and to make the most of every bit of funding they receive. For many public sector organisations and governments, using AI to achieve these goals is seen as a clear priority. 

• Gain insight into how agentic AI will deliver benefits to stakeholders of all kinds, from employees to citizens and businesses to entire communities, including local, cross-regional and global—and in every context, from government to education to defence. 

Before they can reap the benefits of agentic AI, public sector organisations must be sure to build on a solid foundation that supports their responsibility of care for constituents.  They need to:

• Unpack the critical building blocks—from ensuring that their IT infrastructure is fit for task, including modern cloud systems and robust cybersecurity, to prioritising data privacy and security issues and fully addressing ethical concerns to build public trust.  
• Understand how to manage the resulting change in organisations and make sure that their people are well-equipped to take full advantage of the new possibilities provided by these tools, ensuring agentic AI is deployed responsibly and delivers lasting impact.

Successfully deploying agentic AI in the public sector requires a structured, value-driven approach. PwC’s agentic AI Value Chain provides a comprehensive framework that guides organisations through three critical stages—strategy and discovery, design and deploy, and scale and collaborate.  

• Discover how public sector organisations can assess AI readiness, diagnose current maturity levels, and prioritise high-impact use cases to embed AI agents into core operations. 

• Delve into how AI initiatives can be aligned with mission objectives by evaluating the data landscape, regulatory environment, and internal capabilities, while addressing ethical issues to build trust from the start.  

For organisations wanting to successfully develop secure AI solutions, it is imperative to bring in a strong technology partner with the right capabilities, industry knowledge and functional expertise. It is equally essential to tap into proven industry expertise and knowledge to overcome barriers to implementation.  

• Learn how PwC’s strategic collaboration with Microsoft helps organisations take full advantage of AI agents as critical assets to support innovation, increase efficiency, automate workflows, and transform operations and citizen services. By leveraging scalable AI solutions and responsible AI practices—including robust security, effective data management, and transparency—these ecosystems deliver measurable outcomes and empower public sector organisations to stay at the forefront of technological innovation while serving communities efficiently.