Experts have termed the current age we find ourselves in as industry 4.0 where data is one of the most essential ingredients across all sectors - public and private. With many public sector electronic services transitioned and still migrating to digital platforms (e-government) there are numerous opportunities for governments to leverage on modern technology and big data to improve upon service delivery. Research has not considered the role of the big data analytics in building digital societies that thrive in times of hardship. Resilience is essential in modelling the data-driven public sector of the future. As such, this article explores the role data science plays in supporting decision making by government as well as building a resilient society that is capable of achieving sustainable development. With the global health crisis that brought economies to a standstill almost the whole of the year 2020, at the time of publication, the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic was highlighted as a clear example of what the data-driven public sector actually can contribute and the role of data in government decision and policy making.