The Digitalization Process of the Public Sector in Turkey: An Evaluation Through the Digital Transformation Office

Introduction

The place and role of technology in human life is becoming more and more valuable in an unimaginable way. We are experiencing the fourth industrial revolution. At the same time, society 5.0 is experienced socially. In the process that started with hunting and agricultural activities, the social process came to the 4th stage with the invention of industrial production and the computer. Society 5.0, on the other hand, refers to the new social structure based on society 4.0, which is based on the logic that public services can receive the highest quality public service in every segment.

The differentiation of production relations leads to historical breaking points and transformations in the social sense. Transformation itself, whether in the private or public sector, is both a cause and an effect when evaluated with other developments. Big Data Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and other technological developments radically change the intellection of production. This change also triggers the change to be experienced in many different areas such as public organization, security, way of doing business and types of employment. Perhaps the most important common problem for the digitalized public and private sectors and users is digital security. In this sense, the measures to be taken in the field of cyber security in the digital transformation of public administration are one of the most important components of this process. As it is known, one of the most important functions or reasons for existence of the state, which even classical liberals do not deny, is the state's duty to provide internal and external security. With digitalization, the position that states will take in their role in providing security will change and cyber security will come to the fore. Because the attacks that will be experienced in terms of security in the near future will show themselves in the form of cyber attacks, mostly due to digitalization. As smart applications permeate our lives, the risk will increase as well.

The issue of security forms part of the digital transformation of public administration. When looked around the world, it is seen that countries do not remain indifferent to this situation. It is observed that almost every country is involved in digital transformation efforts in one way or another except for less developed countries.

In Turkey, where the digitalization process is handled as a holistic, the digitalization process in public administration is also shaped under the influence of the central administration. The central government is not the only responsible institution in this regard. Local governments and citizens also have very important duties. However, it should be considered as a normal situation that the central administration, which has the power to make regulations, comes to the fore in this regard. This situation, in one aspect, gives the impression of a top-down change movement initiated by the central administration of the public digital transformation, as in other modernization movements in Turkey. The current corporate representative of the Digital Transformation process in Turkey is the Digital Transformation Office. Organized at the central level, this unit is tasked with developing policies regarding different aspects of the digital transformation process, under the President.

Digitalization in Turkey is perceived as a holistic transformation that brings together human, business processes and technology elements. In this sense, the definition adopted by the Digital Transformation Office; It is in the form of “holistic transformation in the field of people, business processes and technology”. Digitalization can be expressed as the transfer of values such as knowledge, labor, and capital directly to the digital environment depending on technological development. In this sense, it is accepted that the digital transformation process started with the transition to cyber-physical systems. Digitalization is perceived not only as technological progress in the narrow sense but as a considerable transformation. The transformation in question has started to be effective in areas such as employment, social welfare, and the economy through the self-instrumentalization of digital technologies.