Smartcity: willing local authorities hampered by lack of resources

Just as it impacts society as a whole and is part of everyday life in France, digital transformation also concerns local authorities. Thanks to digital technology,Smart City initiatives are enabling local authorities to transform their urban operations and service provision. To identify the digital challenges they face, IDC conducted a survey of 102 local authorities (communes of over 5,000 inhabitants, urban communities and agglomeration communities) on behalf of Syntec Numérique’s “City” Committee.

This study analyzes the maturity of smart city initiatives, the main objectives driving communities to invest in digital transformation, the projects actually studied or deployed, the benefits already seen, and the challenges to be overcome in order to transform.

Key figures from the Syntec Numérique / IDC study

• 93% of municipalities surveyed have already launched a smart city initiative
• 87% in education
• 74% for video surveillance
• 52% for civic life
• 59% spend less than 10% of their IT budget on these initiatives

Local authorities on the road to digital transformation

At a time when digital technology is permeating the daily lives of the French, local authorities are well on the way to transforming their services to users and embracing digital tools. Although the level of maturity of their actions differs, the vast majority are aware of the need to adapt.

When it comes to “Smart City”, more than 9 out of 10 municipalities have already implemented initiatives in areas as diverse and varied as civic life, education, safety/security, attractiveness, intelligent lighting and buildings, transport, and intelligent water and waste management.

The communities surveyed say they are already seeing the benefits of the projects they have launched. On this point, there is a real difference in focus between the smallest communes (fewer than 20,000 inhabitants) and the others. The smallest communes report benefits in terms of infrastructure (Building-Energy – 67%), safety (64%) and attractiveness of the territory (60%), while those with over 20,000 inhabitants mention water management (80%), public lighting (70%) and healthcare (67%).

Education, safety and civic life, priority areas for deployment

When asked about their smart city objectives, local authorities cite strengthening ties with citizens (75%), developing new services (45%) and reducing costs (38%) as their top priorities. According to the survey, the top three areas for smart city initiatives are education (87% of local authorities have already implemented a project), security (particularly video surveillance) (74%) and civic life (52%).

We also note that this list of priorities does not vary according to commune size, and that it also corresponds to the public policies for which digital budgets are most important (Education – Citizenship/Inclusion – Security).

Lack of budget remains an undeniable obstacle

Despite what appears to be a general awareness of the issue, and the many projects underway, 6 out of 10 local authorities surveyed cited a lack of funding as the main obstacle to a successfulSmart Cityinitiative. Lack of political will (24%) and lack of in-house skills (22%) are also mentioned.

The financial aspect inevitably impacts the level of maturity of the projects launched, since 6 out of 10 local authorities devote less than 10% of their IT budget to smart city projects. A low budget, but one that is on the rise for a third of them (and for 40% of local authorities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants surveyed, who are upgrading). For almost 9 out of 10 local authorities, the IT budget (including these activities) represents less than 4% of total expenditure.

For an innovative global IT environment

Despite the investments required, moving towards a smart, sustainable city is an essential objective that is an integral part of public policy for the majority of local authorities. However, this transformation goes beyond smart city initiatives. In particular, it involves optimizing administrative information systems.

For the local authorities surveyed, the challenge at this level is to encourage the dematerialization of documents (91%), online payment solutions (81%) and the dematerialization of internal processes (80%).

The study focuses on the degree of maturity of local authorities. The survey results show that while social networks (84%) and mobility tools (65%) are widely used by local authorities, they are only at the beginning when it comes to the Cloud (31%), the Internet of Things (35%), Big Data (11%) or Robotics (6%). However, the rapid pace at which environments and technologies are evolving is creating disruption, which is a challenge for cities in terms of budget priorities.