Digital Society: The PA Restart Forum focuses on the Digital Transformation of Public Administration in Italy
The Digital Society is no longer the future, but the reality into which the Covid-19 crisis has catapulted the Italian Public Administration.
In Italy, the Public Administration can no longer go back to the traditional working model marked by the rhythm of seven and forty hours in the office.
The PA must prove that it has won the battle of digitalalisation, proving to its citizens to be efficient and modern, with more public services online and more innovation, also thanks to the spread of smart working.
The Public Administration in Italy must demonstrate that it is able to manage the large amount of resources that will come from the Recovery Fund and not fail this opportunity that comes from the European Union to further speed up the digitalisation process after the first phase of the pandemic. Public managers are aware that new qualified professional profiles are needed to better manage the projects.
The company of the Digital360 Group FPA presented on 4 November, during the opening day of FORUM PA 2020 Restart Italia, an interesting research entitled PA beyond Covid.
The research was carried out through a demoscopic survey conducted in collaboration with the Piepoli Institute on a sample of 1000 people representative of the Italian population and a second survey on more than 2000 people who make up the PanelPA of the FPA community, to compare the opinions of users and public employees on the role of the Public Administration in emergency and recovery.
Gianni Dominici, FPA’s General Manager commented:
Despite the controversy fuelled by those who only highlight delays, there is a country that is reacting and sees the majority of civil servants in the front row for the restart. In the emergency, local public administrations had to react quickly to ensure continuity of services and respond to the needs of the pandemic, but it also accelerated the technological and organisational transformation. Now the PA is called upon to become one of the pillars of the restart, also thanks to the use of substantial resources made available by Europe with the Recovery Fund funding instruments.
During the emergency, the importance of digital technology aimed at granting public services to citizens became even clearer, but the digitalisation of Public Administration represents much more than that: it is an element of efficiency for the sector and of revitalisation for the whole country. The research highlights an important new growth in awareness among Italians, who are calling for a more digital PA, and among civil servants themselves, who support innovation in the administration. This is a positive sign, because the digital transformation of PA, together with those of businesses, is crucial for the restart.
It is important to stress, however, that the digital transformation of public administration must not be reduced to a mere technical solution, but to a sociotechnical one, which must indicate a high degree of democracy.
For an effective and efficient digital transformation, the Italian Public Administration needs to understand, face, and change socio-political and sociotechnical customs, only in this way can Italy claim to have become a digital society.
