Digitalization and Information Management in Smart City Government: Requirements for Organizational and Managerial Project Policy

The widespread use of information and communication technology (ICT) in public management and public sector reforms is widely recognized. Here digital or electronic government is studied on the basis of information management in smart city government. Digital governance and information management have changed the ways city governments are organized and public services delivered. Unlike the research that has concentrated on private sector developments from digital or business perspective, studies taking place in the public sector context must also take the dynamics of e-government into consideration. In this research, the empirical material was produced by interviewing high-position managers in city governments. Both individual thematic interviews and focus group interviews were done to scrutinize the organizational and management implications of ICT and data mining in information management. The authors' findings indicate that the managers view how information management quite often falls short in providing and presenting relevant information for all parties in city governance. Currently digital information management practices are fragmented and scattered over projects. It is concluded that issues related to the practices of organizing ICTs and projects in smart city government, and additionally the human dimension related to information management, should be addressed more thoroughly to increase understanding about the smart city governance. Furthermore, activities are needed on behalf of a more mature information management.