The business of government is to serve citizens, and IT is the heart and lungs of how governments deliver service in the digital era. But because legacy practices such as manual record keeping, written applications and standing in line persist, governments may struggle to harness the power of IT to support services delivery.

Technology evolves faster than culture, and challenges to modernization are not unique. That is why an extensive – yet nuanced – understanding of both technology and culture is what distinguishes a successful digital transformation.

Kyndryl’s temporary consortium with Vodafone and Lutech is a breakthrough in integrated services delivery to those who serve their citizens. Within the agreement for public procurement services managed by Consip in Italy, the three companies’ combined efforts will enable Central Public Administration entities in Italy to migrate their on-premises applications and platforms to a more efficiently managed cloud environment. This migration is part of Italy’s National Recovery and Resiliency Plan to build a national cloud, expand broadband connectivity and enable greater awareness of, and access to, digital services for the country’s economically and generationally diverse population. 

Moving Public Administration services to the cloud will improve both backend management and citizen-facing services. Modern software applications are written in, and for, the cloud, and public services need the security and scalability of cloud environments so they can adapt quickly to citizens’ needs, introduce innovations and protect citizens’ data. Among the tasks at hand will be humanizing the digital services experience to improve the population’s digital literacy. Broad access to such literacy is important to Italy’s future – both in terms of providing opportunity to all ages across socioeconomic lines, as well as supporting the country’s expanding elderly population.

The global pandemic continues to stress test public services at all levels, and Italy’s are no exception. In both the enterprise space and across government services, organizations have been forced to modernize quickly. But smart companies – and smart governments – need to know they can trust their technology partners to listen to their concerns and then proceed with proven solutions based on deep sector expertise.

Without a collaborative mindset and human-centered approaches to problem-solving, “digital transformation” can become an expensive and ineffective exercise in futility. What distinguishes the integrated Kyndryl/Vodafone/Lutech outlook on enabling Central Public Administration entities in Italy to migrate their on-premises applications and platforms to the cloud will be striking the perfect balance between culture and technology to ensure that the advances of the digital era function in service to people.