Governments are going to have to find new ways to manage data due to rapid growth in digital content and a society that demands social media solutions, according to a speech made at the Managing Public Sector Information event held in London.

The way governments work is ready to change due to an increasingly tech-savvy, information-rich culture, said Ian E. Wilson, who made the speech at the behest of Open Text, a major enterprise content management provider.

With such a change would come a "new horizontal team approach and information flow" that will end any closed walls in bureaucracy and allow citizens to become more engaged in government”s dealings with trade organizations and lobbyists, he said.

"Social media will deliver one of the greatest leaps forward in democratic participation seen in our world," Wilson said.

Wilson also mentioned that the world”s economic problems, not only political demands, are driving such digital collaboration.

In California, in part as a way to cut costs, the Los Angeles County recently announced it is connecting citizens to its Department of Public Health”s children services group through a partnership with another major ECM provider, EMC, which makes Documentum.