Digital transition and public administration in Italy: the experience of the Italian National Social Security Institution − INPS

Abstract

The innovation and modernization processes of national public administrations feature prominently in the process of digital transition that the whole Europe is going through. In Italy, the National Institute of Social Security (Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale, INPS) has historically always been at the forefront in terms of digital skills and the use of Information Technology for the provision of social security services, constituting a model of excellence in the landscape of public administrations both in Italy and Europe. INPS is currently facing a strategic challenge: that of constituting the driving force for the digital transition of the Italian public sector. To meet this challenge, the Italian Social Security Institute has equipped itself with an ICT Plan that represents a marked discontinuity with respect to past plans and which deserves, as a result of its innovative character, to be analyzed in detail. In particular, the ICT Strategic Plan of INPS for the three-year period of 2020−2022 aims to introduce a paradigm shift towards the digitization of the public services that the Social Security Institute offers to the whole country, planning a radical technological, organizational and cultural innovation, an enabling prerequisite for creating a new model service for citizens, businesses and other public administrations.