Some critical factors in Local e-Government: The case of Lombardy

The implementation of E-Government systems is a complex activity, due especially to the variety of the aspects involved (technological, organizational, normative). The difficulties are even major on the local level, where the task to implement E-Government systems is often entrusted to Small Local Government Organizations (SLGO): for them the management of the innovation can be a problem because of the lack of resources. In this paper, making a reference to a case study in Lombardy Region (Italy), we point out some critical aspects that can arise in the implementation of E-Government systems by SLGOs. The discussion of these elements is based on the data collected through a survey carried out at the end of 2005 on a sample of the 1546 Lombardy municipalities. The survey is based on the use of smart cards for the access to online services of the Local Public Administration. Thanks to some projects carried out in the last few years, in Lombardy already exist all the infrastructural and technological conditions necessary to guarantee a secure access to online services. From this point of view, the critical aspects which arose in the survey and which are discussed in this paper highlight the fact that for SLGOs the problems in the implementation of E-Government systems are not so much technological as actually organizational