Digital transformation applications in local governments: Trabzon province

Nowadays, both governments in the public sector and enterprises in the private sector are rebuilding their strategies by considering the effects and advantages of information communication technologies. With the rapidly changing and developing life styles, it does not seem possible for local governments to continue their activities independent of information and communication technologies in terms of global competition. In Turkey for the development of digital local governments started to spread examples in the world shows that the initiatives begun. Since 2017, digital municipal activities have started in the province of Trabzon in the Black Sea Region. Digital transformation is still going on here. The main purpose of this study is to examine digital transformation in local governments in the context of the effects of information communication technologies. It is also to explore the advantages of this change for municipalities. It is seen that there are not enough studies about digital transformation applications in local governments in the literature. However, the lack of qualitative and quantitative practices that can shed light on the digital transformation of local governments draws attention. The study consists of three parts. In the first part, basic concepts within the conceptual framework of digital transformation are given; In the second part, the digitization move in local governments is mentioned; In the third and last chapter, the digitalization process of the local government in Trabzon was discussed; The technological opportunities and practices used by the local government in the city of Trabzon in municipal activities have been examined in detail. As a result of the research, it was determined that Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality has completed the digital transformation process to a great extent. It has also been observed that it has made progress towards continuous improvement in order to provide better quality and qualified service. However, it was determined that Trabzon district municipalities still have important deficiencies in this issue.