Digital government transformation as an organizational response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Working from home: the experience of records management professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In countries where advanced digitization programs and relevant infrastructures were already in place before the pandemic, the shift to remote working did not cause interruptions or major changes to existing recordkeeping practices, a finding that is in accordance with previous studies (Moser-Plautz and Schmidthuber, 2023). For some respondents, working remotely was an established routine (mostly part-time), so again, they did not perceive the “lockdown” modality as a dramatic shift – besides the fact that everyone in their household was suddenly working remotely.…”

“…Our study confirms that the pandemic has accelerated the digitization of work processes and resources that was already underway in many Western countries (Moser-Plautz and Schmidthuber, 2023). However, have we seen a substantial transformation in the way information and records are conceived and managed?…”

“…This also offered an opportunity for transformative change as the pandemic accelerated the process of digital transformation that was already underway in most Western countries (Garcia-Contreras et al , 2021; Mergel et al , 2019). For many people, the physical workplace ceased to be their daily destination and was replaced by their home, as many employees were asked to work from home or to reduce their working hours due to social distancing measures (Moser-Plautz and Schmidthuber, 2023).…”

“…They also found that organizations and employees were, to some extent, “accidentally prepared” as the use of common enterprise platforms such as Office 365 meant that “online and collaborative tools were already licenced and available” (Papagiannidis et al , 2020). Similarly, Moser-Plautz and Schmidthuber (2023) who studied digital transformation within 10 Austrian federal administration organizations found out that these organizations greatly benefited from digital transformation. In short, the pandemic activated resources that the organizations already had (enterprise platforms and basic digital skills).…”

Path Clearing, Policy Acceleration or Trend Reinforcement: Potential Implications of Selected Local Government Responses to Covid-19 in the UK

“…Prominent examples evident in both government circles and in society at large include advancing the deployment of digital technology by an estimated seven years (McKinsey, 2021), and the widespread switch to remote working by office-based workers (Partridge, 2022). Both developments have been particularly prominent in the public sector (Gómez et al, 2022;Moser-Plautz & Schmidthuber, 2023;ONS, 2023;Wilson & Tewdwr-Jones, 2023). Such 'path clearing' can also be seen in the removal of legal, procedural, and other blockages as a means of 'getting urgent things done'.…”