Digitalization in public administration in the housing and utility sector and the human factor

According to the smart city concept, transformation of the urban environment requires state and municipal authorities to use information and communications technology. However, the system of performance evaluation within the initial process often does not reveal the difficulties in introducing innovative methods. The paper discusses the problems arising when executive authorities introduce digital technologies into the housing and utility sector. The theories of strategic management, project management, organizational change and the smart city concept constitute the research methodology. The study is based on mapping and visual assessment of actors' routes during the working day and the authors' system for a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the actors' work results and performance discipline that takes into account the digitalization of the control and planning functions. The information base includes the data from the system "Monitoring of the cleaning vehicles performance of road service companies" in Saint Petersburg (Russia). The statistical relationships between the assessment system indicators are determined using the Pearson correlation coefficient. As research results show, the main barriers to obtaining the planned result of organizational changes in the state management of basic processes in the housing and utility sector are technical imperfection of planning and control tools, fragmented application of innovations, invalidity and incompleteness of metrics in organizational management, peculiarities of labor behavior and performance discipline, as well as the lack of tools for prompt communication between decision-makers and actors. The findings can be used by state and municipal authorities when introducing digital technologies, including in the routine processes of ensuring the city life.