The innovation of local public-sector companies: Processing big data for transparency and accountability

New Public Governance (Klijn, 2008) is the basis for our analysis of the group of public-sector and public service companies. It has furthered the involvement of citizens and of political governance in the management of resources (Boston and Pallot, 1997; Northcott et al., 2012). In order to manage the group while remaining accountable and guiding production choices, it is essential to have an overview and a guarantee of transparency (Hood and Peters, 2004; Willem and Buelens, 2007). This study aims to analyse whether the processing of big data is positively related to accountability and transparency. A qualitative analysis was made of a case study (City of Turin) with the aim of identifying advantages, critical issues and potential problems in the process of re-engineering the information system, and in transparency and active participation through big data and new citizen-friendly instruments. The processing of big data plays a decisive role in the creation of a panel of easy-to-interpret benchmarks that provide an immediate overview of reality. As we have seen in the case study, incoming data on the big data platform is often of low quality, which prevents a proper assessment of expenditure and gives no guidance as to which services are most needed by the final users. Public bodies must invest to reduce the costs generated by poor quality data and to improve Data Management processes. A single integrated system is the only instrument that can guarantee accountability and transparency through complete system outputs for stakeholders.