The Digitization Process in the Italian Public Administrations

In the last few years, a new stream of research sharply raised its attention on digital transformation (Hinings et al., 2018; Nambisan et al., 2017; Svahn et al., 2017; Yoo et al., 2012). Digital transformation is a complex issue that may affect many areas within an organization. The term "Digital Transformation" has no a univocal meaning (Hess et al., 2016), nerveless new digital technologies “demand different mindsets and skillsets than previous waves of transformative technology,” (Fitzgerald et al., 2014) that in turn transform the organizations (Markowitsch et al., 2002). At the same time, the term “transformation” expresses the comprehensiveness of the actions that need to be taken when organizations face these new technologies. Therefore, digital transformation goes beyond merely digitizing resources (McDonald, and Rowsell-Jones; 2015), it will take place when organizations embrace all the potential of social learning in the design and the process of delivering contents, and it involves a company-wide digital strategy. To ensure that an organization captures the business value of a digital transformation, it should carefully formulate a digital transformation strategy that coordinates the many independent threads of it and helps it to navigate the complexity and ambiguity of identifying its own digital “sweet spots.” (Hess et al., 2016). The digital transformation has also led to a new use of Systems Thinking in the organizational studies. In fact, unlike traditional approaches, which typically focus on separating the problem into individual pieces into pieces (for example, the great success of Design Thinking today, seen as an innovation but still anchored to a linear reasoning), Systemic Thought, in contrast, focuses on how the object of analysis interacts, and where it intersects, the other components of the entire system. Now, it is possible to see digital transformation as a fusion between customer demand, technologies, and general business objectives: socio-cultural changes have an impact on customer demand and technologies are implemented to satisfy this new demand in a way that is beneficial to the business and in line with the global business strategy, which often leads to changes in the management structure and style as well as to the re-engineering of the business processes themselves. The Digital Transformation has, therefore, become the most significant managerial challenge in the development of an organization. Internally, it affects the entire organization, while externally, it influences the strategic position of the organization on the market, along with the likelihood of its longevity or disappearance. Furthermore, it influences the nature of the relationships between individuals and organizational units, which becomes complex, particularly in larger organizations, and ultimately provides organizations with enormous potential in terms of growth and development, although, of course, not in a way that is free of challenges and significant risks. So the challenge of undertaking the transformation and realizing its benefits must be faced by leaders who can understand both the planned and unplanned consequences and those in store for the organization. In other words, the key to digital transformation is Systems Thinking. Nevertheless, digital transformation cannot take place without eliminating paper documents to make an organization paperless and obtain many advantages and benefits: there is no digital transformation without digitization (Armenia et al., 2008). Although different definitions exist, digitization refers to the reduction of the throughput of materials in human societies (Van der Voet et al., 2004). In this study, the concept of “digitization” indicates the progressive increase in digital and computerized management of documents and processes within public and private bodies, with the consequent takeover of dedicated solutions at the expense of traditional supports. Digital documents allow money, time and labor savings since, if they were sent, received and stored in electronic format, documents do not have to be every time: transcribed, recorded, inserted in files, classified, moved, and searched between cabinets, drawers, folders, and boxes. Then, the processes became more efficient. The possible evolution of digitization could be seen not only as a way to define a new strategy but also as a factor that outlines a specific organizational structure (Resca et al., 2013). Digitizing the organization activities means designing and managing the entire processes, internal and external, in an integrated and collaborative way: it is not a mere replacement of the paper document with its electronic version, but a complete redesign of the process to obtain an increase in financial and organizational performance and an improvement in all operations carried out. As a result, digital transformation changes the business models, operational processes, and customer experiences (Berman; 2012), creating new challenges for individuals and organizations.