In Italy the road to the digitization it is still paved with good intentions, but it can also be traveled on 2 wheels, pedaling on an electric bicycle. After all, this is what happened in Ala, almost 9 thousand souls in the autonomous province of Trento, at the mouth of the Ronchi valley in the very green Vallagarina. Here the municipal administration has set up the “digital friend”. A service in flesh and blood: it is Giacomo, a 22-year-old employed in the civil service, committed to pedaling around the country.
Home delivery of documents
Giacomo delivers dozens of documents directly to the home of his fellow citizens, from those for the registration of new births to the vaccine booking form until the account is opened Spid. Home digitization reaches the network: thus the “Citizen’s room”, Where you can access with Spid to obtain many services, from personal certificates to the change of residence. “In this way we become ever closer to people and their needs,” says Claudio Soini, mayor of Ala.
Focus on digitization with more accessible and inclusive services based on direct experience and involving everyone, no one excluded. And do it because a connected citizen costs less. «Today many companies have understood that digital is not the icing on the cake, but is an integral part of the growth path. And there is a greater cultural awareness that digital represents an indispensable change to understand the continuity of services », says Gianni Dominici, director of Fpa-Forum Pa. A necessary evolution also dictated by the pandemic emergency .
The “maturity” of the large municipalities
This is what emerges from the survey on the digital maturity of the capital municipalities, carried out between April and May 2021 by Fpa for Dedagroup Public Services. The research analyzes the degree of digital maturity of the 110 Italian provincial municipalities on the basis of 3 dimensions: services, platforms and interoperability of open data. There are 49 Italian cities that in 2021 reached a high level of digital maturity (14 more than in 2020).
The most mature cities are mainly located in the regions of the North-West (15 out of 24 municipalities in the high-end) and North-East (17 out of 24 in the high-end) and have on average a high population density. But among the 49 most digital municipalities there are also 9 cities in the South: Bari, Cagliari, Caltanissetta, Campobasso, Catania, Lecce, Matera, Naples, Palermo.
The digital reaction to the pandemic
“The research shows how Italian municipalities have reacted well to the stimuli brought by the health emergency, accelerating their own digital maturation process. However, the relationship is still inconsistent on digital channels, while there is a need to retain citizens. The future must start from the co-design of the services, therefore from the co-design ”, says Dominici. The services most offered are those related to the one-stop shop for production activities (bribe), available in 109 municipalities, and to book appointments for the renewal of the identity card, online in 107 cities. This is followed by enrollment in the school canteen (96), the presentation of private building practices (84) and the display and payment of fines (81).
Digital protects you from some risks
An active digital citizenship that can make a difference: the Municipality of Bologna has enacted a regulation for the management of common goods, Milano since the past administration it has created the Department of Participation, Cagliari inaugurated the online space by focusing on usability. The winning key is also to link different channels: the public relations offices of the Municipality of Modena they welcome citizens into their physical spaces to help them access online services. «The goal is to arrive at solutions full digital, but accompanying actions are needed. Digital must be better understood, also because we have discovered that we are vulnerable and without realizing it we are more exposed to risks », concludes Dominici.