Digital Competences for Civil Servants and Digital Ecosystems for More Effective Working Processes in Public Organizations

Advancements in digital transformation, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), block-chain, big data, smart-working, information systems’ interoperability, etc. are changing the nature of the link between technology and employment in public sector. There is the potential that these changes could bring also benefits beyond labour substitution, including higher levels of output, better quality, and fewer errors that are achievable through automation. The increasing introduction of automation and other digital technologies in public organizations means information systems could progressively substituting traditional outdated workers in performing routine, codifiable tasks while at the same time amplifying the productivity of workers in supplying problem solving skills and adaptability. In a specific report of 2018 PwC calculated that 5.1 million jobs, or 44%, were at risk of digital disruption. A digital workplace value chain has becoming a revolutionary and dominant part of the world economy. Each stage can occur in different countries and under different regulatory conditions and be implemented wherever the necessary skills and materials are available at competitive cost and quality. Digital transformation itself should not be seen as a negative for the workforce. If adopted successfully and combined with successful organisational change and change management practices, they can help public organizations to be able to achieve and became more competitive. This article aims to describe the main goals and the preliminary results of a research that aims at analysing the digital technologies adoption rate in the European public sector, in order to assess also the motivations about the adoption as well as the no-adoption decision, the kind of technologies principally actually adopted inside public organizations and the activities of value chains where the new investments in these new technologies are focused.