OUR PRINCIPLES
Digitalization is a key instrument for economic development. The ‘Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development’ department is guided by 7 main principles, supporting Sofia’s digital transformation proceesses and its development as an intelligent, digital, innovative and tech city.
Need-based vs. technology-based
What is it?
Just because a certain technology exists it doesn’t mean we will implement it.
Why it is important?
In a situation when cities worк with limited resources it is important to prioritize based on what the citizens really need and not on cool new technologies for technologies’ sake.
Stakeholder engagement
What is it?
We do it together or don’t do it at all.
Why it is important?
Decisions on digitalization projects must be based on a wide range of opinions and a city-wide consensus.
People-centric approach
What is it?
This one is simple. It puts the people in the center of digitalization – after all people are all that matters. This means designing and re-designing services in a way closer to the way people use those services.
Why it is important?
Every year thousands and thousands of hours are wasted on filling-in blanks and trying to understand the lingo and the internal processes of the municipality. We believe it should be the other way around. The city needs to understand how the citizens use the services we offer, what are their needs and how best to serve them.
Holistic approach
What is it?
This means we don’t do things in small parts and pieces only to discover the pieces don’t fit together to give us the Big picture.
Why it is important?
There are numerous systems used in Sofia Municipality, together with the municipal companies the number is even bigger. We cannot have a digital city unless those systems communicate with one another in a flawless manner. It is also important to have the data that those systems generate in order to make data-driven policies and decisions.
Data compatibility
What is it?
Data sets from different municipal departments and companies follow compatible formats so that data could be easily integrated.
Why it is important?
Data is the new commodity. A lot of improvements can be based on using the data we as a city already collect (on traffic, air quality, etc.) to create more products and services.
Processes re-engineering
What is it?
We need to re-think and re-engineer many of the internal and external processes in order to make them more usable.
Why it is important?
Digitalizing the old processes that are already in place is not the answer, it means just transferring the old problems into a new medium.
No vendor lock-in
What is it?
Sometimes companies provide key infrastructure that later on makes it impossible to change the vendor or the supplier and we could be left outside of the real market for products and services and stuck to an old technology for much longer than we should.
Why it is important?
It is important to prevent this in order to be able to change and upgrade the infrastructure and include more local companies in the digital transformation of the city.