Emphasising the importance of in-house companies in the sustainable digital transformation of the public administration, inviting them to take a proactive role in promoting digital sustainability: it is with this objective in mind that the Working Group dedicated to this topic, set up by the Foundation for Digital Sustainability, worked on the creation of the Decalogue of In-Houses for Digital Sustainability.
The Working Group, which was already made up of in-house partner companies of the Foundation such as ACI Informatica, Lepida, Informatica Alto Adige and Trentino Digitale, has recently expanded with the entry of Pasubio Tecnologia: the in-house IT company owned by 38 public bodies in the province of Vicenza.
We spoke about this new collaboration and the organisation’s daily commitment to inclusive and sustainable digital transformation with Laura Locci: civil engineer, project manager with an executive master’s degree in business administration and since 2016 Sole Director of Pasubio Tecnologia.
In-house, a driver for digital sustainability
‘For us, digital sustainability is the possibility that digital transformation has a positive impact on society, people and the environment,’ explained Laura Locci.
“Digital transformation must therefore be oriented, and we believe that governments, authorities and companies must contribute in this direction. It is precisely in this orientation that organisations such as in-house, by their very characteristics, can make a huge difference. Representing, in fact, a real driver for digital sustainability. “In-house companies are the technology organisation closest to the entities that deliver services to citizens, entities that often do not even have the domain knowledge to be able to govern digital transformation processes without ending up hostage to technological lock-in.
By their very nature, in-house companies are not measured in terms of economic performance, but in their ability to positively impact the territory in which they operate. Digital citizenship today is not for everyone, and this is where the digital divide is measured. This is why the correct orientation of digital transformation must ensure a sustainable and equitable digital transformation for the whole of society‘.
A daily challenge
In short, in a context in which the Public Administration plays a fundamental role in the digital – and sustainable – transformation of the country, in-house companies are able to contribute, with technological and process innovation, in shaping the vision of a truly citizen-centric PA. And this, as Laura Locci emphasised, is the challenge Pasubio Tecnologia faces in its daily work. “Pasubio Tecnologia has among its partners entities ranging from the large provincial capital to the small municipality of a few hundred inhabitants, with obvious differences in terms of resources and skills. The challenge is that the citizens of these entities enjoy the same rights, that digital transformation improves their services and organisation.
The daily challenge is to accompany everyone to the use of secure systems by spreading a digital culture and a sustainable digital culture. For us, the certification of gender equality is also a manifesto towards our members: digital transformation must be fair and inclusive, not a race to see who can first boast of having a new digital service based on artificial intelligence, as is often the case today“.
The Foundation’s Decalogue: a tool for awareness
Precisely in order to invite all in-house companies to take on this strategic role, and thus to strengthen their commitment to the sustainable digital transformation of PA, the Foundation for Digital Sustainability has set up its own Decalogue: a document, an important ‘guide’ for these companies in building a digital future that gives importance to the common good. “The Decalogue is a powerful tool for us, which we will tell our members at the next Assembly. It tells our posture towards the PA and society, and marks the clear distinction of meaning between the in-house and the market,” Laura Locci continued. “On a daily basis, our role is questioned by parties within our members who would like to measure us against the market only on the cost-effectiveness of the individual service, forgetting our strategic role even on services that cannot be outsourced. In this sense, we are enthusiastic about the work on the UNI/PdR 147:2025 practice, a tool that we hope will become useful in demonstrating the appropriateness of in-house companies understood as an organisational model that tends not towards the cheapest solution, but towards an economic solution conditioned by compliance with digital sustainability objectives“.