Many municipalities still lack adequate staffing for ICT management. A significant number of planned ICT positions remain unfilled, even in large cities (about 33%).
Around 75% of municipalities rely on external providers for ICT operations, while only 25% manage ICT internally. This indicates a reliance on outsourcing rather than a structured internal change management capacity.
The PNRR resources have been identified as decisive by 85% of municipalities for enabling digital transformation. However, information on long-term financial sustainability of digital projects is limited.
In 65% of municipalities, the role of the Chief Digital Officer (RTD) is combined with other senior responsibilities, while only 8.5% have a dedicated RTD. This dual-role setup limits the ability to establish a long-term digital strategy and cross-departmental coordination. Smaller municipalities are more likely to share the RTD role across entities with administrative competencies.

APULIA Region
Small (<5.000 inhabitants), intermediate (5.000-15.000), medium (15.000-50.000), large municipalities (more than 50.000). Small municipalities are not considered due to the low number of respondents.
Results show that Governance and Digital Strategy is among the most mature domains of digital transformation in municipalities across the Apulia Region. Most administrations are positioned between medium and high maturity levels, while low maturity remains marginal, indicating that governance structures, leadership mechanisms and investment capacities are generally well established.
The domain encompasses three key areas: Planning and Change Management, Financing and Investments, and Vision and Leadership. Among these, Financing and Investments emerges as the strongest component. Municipalities demonstrate a solid ability to access, manage and sustain financial resources for digitalization, reflecting the growing importance of funding opportunities in supporting innovation processes.
Vision and Leadership also show positive results, with most municipalities having defined governance responsibilities and organizational roles to guide digital transformation. The progressive introduction of dedicated digital transformation officers and coordination mechanisms confirms an increasing institutional commitment to digital innovation, although levels of integration and cross-departmental collaboration still vary.
The main challenge concerns Planning and Change Management. While strategic planning practices are present in many administrations, long-term digital strategies are not always fully structured, monitored or consistently implemented. This gap suggests that the availability of resources and governance arrangements is not always matched by equally robust mechanisms for strategic execution and adaptation.
Differences among municipality sizes are relatively limited. Large municipalities generally display the highest maturity levels, while intermediate municipalities show greater variability, particularly in strategic planning processes. Overall, the findings highlight a solid governance foundation for digital transformation, with further efforts needed to strengthen long-term vision, change management and the continuous monitoring of digital strategies.
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MOLISE Region
Small (<1000 inhabitants), medium (1000-2500), larger municipalities (2500-8000). The 4 bigger cities are not considered in the analysis.
Overall, the domain points to a solid but not fully consolidated governance framework across the region. Medium municipalities appear to combine strategic planning, roles, and funding capacity more effectively than the other groups, while small municipalities show uneven performance depending on the presence of local leadership and administrative resources. Larger municipalities do not dominate this domain, which suggests that scale alone does not guarantee stronger governance maturity.
The strongest aspect is the presence of formal governance structures and at least partial strategic awareness in many administrations. However, the domain also reveals persistent weaknesses in the consistency of digital strategy, in the ability to secure and manage funding, and in the clarity of coordination mechanisms across departments. These weaknesses are more visible in the lower-scoring municipalities, especially where digital transformation is still handled in a fragmented or ad hoc way.
Medium municipalities tend to be the most balanced, with enough organisational capacity to define strategies and manage digital initiatives, but still with room to strengthen planning and funding access.
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The G Domain represents the most advanced dimension of digital maturity within the IPA structure. The high score suggests that institutions have established strategic frameworks, defined roles and responsibilities and demonstrated a clear awareness of the importance of digital transformation. However, the strength of governance structures does not fully translate into effective implementation, indicating a gap between policy-level ambition and operational execution.

Digital maturity in Strategy, Roles, and Funding maintains consistently high levels across the IPA network. Funding emerged as the strongest component within the domain. This clearly shows that institutions are not just planning; they recognize the importance of, and are actively allocating, financial resources to drive digital transformation initiatives. Governance of strategy and roles also demonstrate high levels of preparedness. Institutions possess clear strategic orientation, and the defined roles and institutional responsibilities regarding digitalization are well-understood.
Overall, the analysis confirms that governance-related capacities represent one of the strongest aspects of digital maturity, however the broader assessment demonstrates that implementation capacities remain more limited than strategic preparedness.
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