Benefits and Challenges of Digitalization: An Expert Study on Norwegian Public Organizations

Abstract

The implementation of and research on digital transformation in the context of public organizations have increased substantially in the past few years. A wide range of drivers, benefits, and challenges associated with digitalization have been suggested in the literature. However, these suggestions appear fragmented and disconnected, and do not offer a clear overview of the main drivers, challenges, and benefits. Moreover, research in this regard in the Norwegian and Scandinavian contexts is lacking. Therefore, there is a need to clarify the drivers, benefits, and challenges of digital transformation. To address this need, seven Norwegian public organizations were investigated by gathering data through thirteen interviews. The findings pointed to an extensive number of drivers, benefits, and challenges, some of which stood out from the rest. Handling turbulent environment seemed to be the most mentioned driver, reducing costs were the most mentioned benefit and laws and regulations were the most mentioned challenge. This paper presents an overview of these aspects, explains them in detail, and suggests avenues for further research.