Satisfaction Benchmark for Smart Cities

Abstract

In order to enhance and improve the quality of ``public services'', a sound and clear quality management concept is needed. From the process perspective, ``high quality'' means that a process must deliver satisfaction---the ultimate output variable of any process. A smart city uses information and communication technologies (ICT) in order to increase the quality of its services---which should result in the high satisfaction of the inhabitants. In this chapter, we present a literature overview of benchmarking municipalities and our own primary research of benchmarking satisfaction in over 41 municipalities in Switzerland. As a case study, we show also a benchmarking project conducted in 2013--2014 with the cities of Lublin (Poland) and St.Gall (Switzerland). This chapter will show a framework of a performance dashboard for benchmarking municipalities and how to implement best practice from other municipalities. The key finding of the benchmarking process is to learn from best practice municipalities (the ``between analysis'') and identify the variables which drive satisfaction in a municipality (the ``within analysis''). The chapter ends with a discussion on how a smart city can employ the data derived from ICTs to refine the aforementioned benchmarking process. Our conclusion is that it is vital to embed the smart city concept in a management system that helps decision makers to steer the municipality in a complex environment. To illustrate this point, we show synergies of traditional quality management and smart government approaches in fostering the value of benchmarking outcomes.