EMBA IBE 2019

Team Digitale: A "Digitale" Italian Renaissance

Italy, a country home to Plutarch's history, Michelangelo's sculptures, Bramante's architecture, Caravaggio's art, and Da Vinci's innovations, is undergoing a new renaissance - digitally transforming its entire government for all 61 million Italians. The task was daunting and the magnitude, breathtaking. 8,000 municipalities, 23,000 local public administrations, 25,000 websites, 160,000 databases, 11,000 data centers, and a €5.7 billion IT budget.

Yet, not all is quiet on the Italian front. Italian politics is so divisive that, since 1945, Italy has seen 61 governments. The country is deeply divided between the richer north and the poorer southern states or mezzogiorno. The Sicilian Mafioso and Calabrian Ndranghetta tentacles run deep, creating corruption and deep division. Tax evasion is rampant and under-the-table payments give nothing back to the government, already starving from inefficiencies and massive Debt-to-GDP ratio.

Something needed to be done!

In 2016, the Italian government led by Prime Minister (PM) Matteo Renzi, began the journey to digitally transform Italy. Digital Transformation would bring in the needed transparency and streamline government to build efficiencies. PM Renzi looked outside the box to begin the transformation. PM Renzi appointed Diego Piacentini, an ex-Apple and ex-Amazon senior executive and Amazon.com's largest employee shareholder, to lead the charge as the High Commissioner for Digital Transformation. Diego Piacentini brought his private sector modus operandi to the Italian Government. He hired his team of "missionaries" from the private-sector to digitally transform the Italian government. He called them Team Digitale.

Renzi's government ended four months after the hire but Team Digitale went on to create a series a digital transformation projects. ANPR was to create a digitized national registry of every Italian. PagoPA would bring every government payment system under one roof. SPID and CIE would create digital identities and electronic ID cards for every Italian. A mobile-app called IO (means "I" in Italian) would integrate all the information on a mobile device accessible by all Italians.

By the end of 2018, Diego Piacentini's appointment term was over and two other governments had changed hands. The new High Commissioner, Luca Attias, was appointed by the Prime Minister to take over the reins of digital transformation. A humble, affable, yet powerful Italian public administration insider, Luca Attias believes that digitization is the next moniker of civilization. Team Digitale had built their digital solutions on time and under budget. The push forward was that of awareness, trust, and adoption.

This is where the Kent State Executive MBAs came in.

Together with Dr. Pratim Datta, their faculty and project advisor and Laurie Walker, the EMBA Director, the K40 Executive MBA student cohort embarked on a deep-dive project to learn from, analyze, and offer solutions to Team Digitale in the Italian government on how to build awareness, trust, and adoption.

Digital Transformation is a disruptive innovation. Needless to note, implementing any disruptive innovation is a change management story where you solve problems, reduce bottlenecks and resistance. Resistance can be political (Italy is a large democracy), social (tradition, habit, and culture), economic (costs of execution and change), and technological (capability to scale, secure, and migrate).

The EMBAs were divided into four teams. Each team analyzed and recommended solutions for a specific area of adoption feasibility. Political feasibility analysis Team: Tim, Renee, Mary, Jonathan, Elisha. Social feasibility analysis Team: TJ, Sarah, Stella, Megan, and Joe. Economic feasibility analysis Team: James, Steven, Brian, Robbie, and Jessica. Technological feasibility analysis: Wayne, Ken, Dave, Nicole, and Ben.

The game was afoot!

The EMBAs left for Rome, the Eternal City, on the 15th of May. On Friday, the 17th of May, team leads for each team, namely Renee, Stella, James, and Wayne, along with the faculty advisor, went to meet the High Commissioner, Luca Attias, the Team Digitale CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Simone Piunno, and Daniela Battisti, the EU and OECD liaison (and occasional ghost speech writer for the Italian President). The group met in the High Commissioner's somber, wood paneled office adjacent to the Prime Minister's building where they discussed digital transformation fundamentals and its challenges. The EMBAs started offering useful suggestions right from the start, creating a splendid segue for the more formal upcoming workshop and meeting.

Following a few briefings and debriefings, the EMBAs met with Team Digitale on the 21st of May. The meeting was held in the venerable and prestigious Sala Verde, the "Green Room" in the Prime Minister's building, Palazzo Chigi. Sala Verde is where the Italian PM meets for negotiations and discussions. Surrounded by 15ft long tapestries, the High Commissioner and Team Digitale discussed their digital transformation projects for over 8 hours. The EMBAs had the chance to discuss issues and seek clarifications as a preface to their feasibility assessment and adoption, awareness and trust strategies.

The EMBAs then met with officials from the Italian Parliament on the 24th of May. The visit to the seat of Italian legislation at Palazzo Montecitorio was a somber occasion. Over 3 hours, the EMBAs were given a tour of the Italian Parliament building with its art nouveau halls and its baroque rooms being prepared for the EU elections scheduled for the 26th of May. The EMBAs were given a tour of the opulent Plenary Chamber where Garibaldi and Mussolini spoke to the parliament. The tour was followed by a marvelous discussion by the Legislative and IT officials (Caludia Di Andrea, Elena Candia, and Massimiliano Del Ferraro) on the the balances of powers and rights, cybersecurity issues and solutions, and the use of technology in the Parliament.

The EMBAs worked through the rest of the day, feverishly discussing solutions and handing in their feasibility assessment and solutions for Team Digitale, wrapping up the day with a farewell dinner, readying to return home on the 25th of May.

Our kind thanks to High Commissioner Luca Attias, along with CTO Simone Piunno, PagoPA’s Giuseppe Virgone, ANPR’s Mirko Calvaresi, and Daneila Battisti from International Relations

Supporting Information from the Italian Parliament discussion on Legislation and IT

International Business Experience (EMBA 67191) Dr. Pratim Datta

EMBA Director: Laurie Walker

College of Business

Kent State University Summer 2019