The digital transformation of public services

All over the world, the digital economy and the development of platforms have brought considerable benefits to society. As a source of product and process innovation, digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for public authorities to improve the way they operate, but also, and more importantly, to profoundly transform their relationship with citizens.

Indeed, the digital transformation goes far beyond the simple dematerialization made possible by information and communication technologies. The digital transformation is, for public administrations, an opportunity to do better, potentially with fewer resources. The opportunities offered are obvious. There are, however, significant risks to be known and mastered. The digital transformation raises many challenges both for governments and for the administration of public services. We know today that to be fully effective, this transformation must be accompanied by organizational changes, a high degree of transparency in the use of technology and data, and a strong use of digital public services by citizens and enterprises. Despite progress in mastering these conditions, much remains to be done to better understand the key success factors for the digital transformation of a public service.

What other key success factors come into play? What is their relative importance? What are the means to mobilize them? How can the organization be aligned with the potential opened up by these new technologies? How to find the right balance between centralization and decentralization of tools for the digitalization of public services? How does the political environment, specific to public services, influence the digital transformation of public services? How can we assess the impact of the digital transformation on organizations?

It is to all these questions that the “Digitalization of public services” project, jointly led by the EPPP Chair and Cabinet Artimon, seeks to provide answers, in order to help local authorities to successfully make the shift to digital.

Contacts : porcher.iae@univ-paris1.fr ; jean.beuve@univ-paris1.fr ; olivier.cristofini@univ-eiffel.fr