INPS accelerated time to market for new content to meet shifting citizen priorities.

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Italian government agency INPS enhances citizen access to public services with support from Adobe.

Istituto nazionale della previdenza sociale

(National Institute for Social Security)

Established 1898

Employees: 30,000

Rome, Italy

https://www.inps.it/it/en.html

24/7

Access to services with mobile-friendly forms

Products:

Adobe Experience Manager Sites

Adobe Experience Manager Assets

Adobe Experience Manager Forms

Adobe Target

Adobe Analytics

Adobe Professional Services

Objectives

Adapt quickly to evolving citizen needs and expectations

Meet accessibility standards to reach every citizen, regardless of ability or channel

Deliver fast, seamless digital interactions across platforms

Enable timely access to critical social services when citizens need them most

Results

Accelerated time to market for new content to meet shifting citizen priorities

Launched an award-winning design system for consistent, accessible service delivery

Enhanced user satisfaction with testing and optimisation of digital journeys

Expanded access with mobile-friendly, accessible forms available 24/7

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Digital services for the community.

When a new parent accesses parental leave forms from a smartphone or a retiree submits a pension claim online rather than in person, Italy’s National Institute for Social Security is delivering on its promise of accessible public service. These are only two examples summarising the goals of Guido Ceccarelli, Head of the “Experience and Digital Platform” Area and the “Data Platform” Area, Central Directorate of Technology, IT and Innovation at Istituto nazionale della previdenza sociale (INPS).

“I’m a citizen, just like my parents, sons, and friends,” says Ceccarelli. “That’s what makes this work personal. It’s incredibly meaningful to contribute to a system that supports the people I care about and the broader community we all live in.”

INPS operates more than 450 services for a user base comprised of 45 million workers and businesses in Italy, including pension, social security, unemployment benefits, parental leave, disability support, and more. INPS leadership recognized an opportunity, as well as a need, to serve people faster, more transparently, and more inclusively through digital transformation.

Turning that ambition into meaningful experiences for more than millions of citizens with diverse needs fell to Giacomo Grassi, Director of “User Experience and Digital Processes” Area, Central Directorate of Communication. He envisioned a platform that felt immediate and intuitive, especially for people navigating life’s most important milestones.

“What citizens want from digital services changes very quickly. We need to achieve a higher level of flexibility, so that when preferences or priorities change, we can quickly change with them,” says Ceccarelli. “We chose Adobe Experience Manager because it’s an enterprise platform that does the bulk of the work for us, allowing us to accelerate time to market and meet users’ needs.”

“Working with Adobe, we have a much faster time to market with the agility to change quickly depending on what information or services citizens need.”

Giacomo Grassi, Director of “User Experience and Digital Process” Area, Central Directorate of Communication, INPS

Delivering the experiences citizens need.

INPS previously used a custom-built web application for its official website. While it initially met the exact specifications of the web portal, it lacked agility. A simple feature update could take weeks or months to move from development to test and finally online. With Adobe Experience Manager Sites, the agency removed much of the development overhead.

Updates are now deployed in approximately 45 minutes, and development is structured in agile sprints, allowing new features to be released within one to two weeks. In urgent situations, the team can develop, test, and deploy updates in as little as two or three hours. This shift enables developers to focus on delivering value through customised components and workflows, rather than spending time patching code.

Adobe Professional Services played a critical role in the implementation, recommending a deployment that minimized downtime — a vital concern for a government agency serving millions of citizens.

“Adobe Professional Services together with the Adobe Ultimate Success team understood our needs and helped us achieve a successful implementation,” says Ceccarelli. “It made it easier for us to get people on board because Adobe is a recognized name, certified for use by government organizations with a solid track record.”

With the new platform in place, INPS was able to rapidly launch a redesigned web portal supporting more than 450 digital services. Designers and developers collaborated to create Sirio, the INPS award-winning design system, that provides a unified frame of design principles, components, and guidelines. Editorial teams can quickly combine modular components to create digital content for the website or mobile app, providing a consistent look and feel while content authors can localise content in multiple languages, broadening access across devices and citizen needs.

All digital content, from multimedia visuals to PDF documents, is centralized and managed in Adobe Experience Manager Assets, providing a hub where administrators can manage versioning for more consistent branding. “Working with Adobe, we have a much faster time to market with the agility to change quickly depending on what information or services citizens need,” says Grassi.

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Championing accessibility for all.

One of the key requirements to launch the new portal in February 2023 was to meet regulatory compliance for accessibility. Components support keyboard navigation, screen readers, and other assistive technologies, and follow strong colour contrast and font guidelines. All content is mobile friendly to reach the 55% of people who access the portal from mobile devices.

INPS is also shifting from PDF forms to dynamic, mobile-friendly digital forms using Adobe Experience Manager Forms. These digital forms also comply with accessibility standards, making them more usable for all citizens. They also eliminate the need to print, fill, and hand-deliver paperwork to local offices.

This shift supports regulatory requirements under the European Accessibility Act — but INPS is going further. “We don’t just want to meet the standard. We want to create a more inclusive environment for all Italian citizens,” says Grassi.

“I love working with Adobe because it has an integrated platform for measuring, testing, and personalisation. It helps us move faster to optimise experiences for citizens.”

Giacomo Grassi, Director of “User Experience and Digital Process” Area, Central Directorate of Communication, INPS

Using data to refine citizen experiences.

Digital services can only succeed if people use them. INPS is committed to optimizing the experience through testing and analytics. “I love working with Adobe because it has an integrated platform for measuring, testing, and personalisation,” says Grassi. “It helps us move faster to optimise experiences for citizens.”

Two years ago, INPS started with a panel of real users to define the website’s information architecture. Since then, Grassi, Ceccarelli and their teams have used A/B tests on layouts, banners, and calls to action using Adobe Target. Adobe Analytics measures behavior such as menu clicks, searches, and form completions to guide refinements.

“We’re getting very positive feedback from users, which is quite unusual in the government sector,” says Ceccarelli. “Both the data and direct feedback give us confidence that we’re reaching our goals of better serving citizens.”

“Working together as a team with Adobe, we’re delivering digital experiences that get people the support they need when they need it, creating a better home for our friends, family, and community across Italy.”

Guido Ceccarelli, Head of the “Experience and Digital Platform” Area and the “Data Platform” Area, Central Directorate of Technology, IT and Innovation, INPS

Creating a positive future for Italians.

INPS is already exploring how to personalise digital services for individual needs. If a citizen browses parental leave content, why not suggest the appropriate application form or local branch hours next? That’s the kind of proactive experience Grassi envisions.

Meanwhile, Ceccarelli is looking to expand the reach of INPS services beyond web and mobile to include virtual assistants and interactive television. “Everything we do at INPS is about people,” says Ceccarelli. “Working together as a team with Adobe, we’re delivering digital experiences that get people the support they need when they need it, creating a better home for our friends, family, and community across Italy.”