Anthesi

The value of digitalisation in public agencies: simplifying to innovate

Since its founding in 1995, the software agency Anthesi has focused on improving the operational efficiency of public agencies and businesses through modernisation and digitalisation. The company’s strength lies in its ability to transform complex public services into user-friendly, accessible, and practical digital solutions. The platforms created by Anthesi are a product of ongoing collaboration between tech specialists and local authorities, which streamlines citizens’ access to services. Anthesi’s flagship product is elixForms, a state-of-the-art platform designed to digitalise administrative processes, fundamentally changing how documents are managed.

Anthesi’s offering stands out because it combines cutting-edge tech skills with extensive knowledge of administrative processes. The company provides a range of comprehensive solutions, from software and IT systems to strategies and visions for the digital ecosystem. Innovation, simplification, and a firm commitment to digital transformation are the driving forces behind every project—ensuring efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency.

The courage to drive change and foster innovation in public agencies

From the outset, the company faced a dual challenge, one that has shaped its strategy and reputation in supporting digital transformation within public agencies.

The first challenge was modernising internal processes within public agencies, often limited by outmoded logics and processes. Beyond simply introducing new technologies, the company had to spearhead cultural and organisational shifts to help public agencies digitalise their day-to-day operations. This project was a resounding success, thanks to the detailed, multi-faceted review of team processes and associated tools. The goal was ambitious: managing flows in a more efficient, simple, and transparent way, and the results proved this was the ideal approach.

The second major challenge, the cloud, was perhaps even more complex as it directly affected the way public agencies managed its data and services.

“We were early adopters of cloud technology, at a time when the concept was little understood and not yet widely accepted. We often found ourselves advocating for digitalisation in situations where paper-based documentation was still prevalent and digital platforms felt like a distant possibility.”

Stefano Furlani, Sales Manager, Anthesi.

With a clear focus and consistency, Anthesi continued to invest in this field, leading to innovations such as elixForms—an important turning point. Through partners like OVHcloud, Anthesi’s systems now also support key national organisations (including ministries and universities), a testament to the company’s achievements.

“These two challenges—process innovation and the adoption of cloud technology—have not only defined our past but continue to shape our vision for the future”,  Furlani continues.

A strategy centred around sovereignty, sustainability, and control

Choosing OVHcloud was not a casual decision but part of a well-defined strategy to ensure autonomy, security, and sustainability. OVHcloud, a leading European cloud provider, is a crucial alternative to non-EU hyperscalers. Thus, the company does not rely on extra-territorial infrastructures, maintaining complete control over its data and adhering to strict European standards.

A key focus of this partnership is the sustainable approach championed by OVHcloud, which involves reusing and refurbishing hardware, reducing the production of new components, and promoting a greener model for the future. A vision that positively impacts the entire ecosystem: for end users, the elimination of paper resulted in a more responsible and streamlined management of processes. For Anthesi, reducing waste and adopting more efficient practices have helped the company achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions, as validated by tools like OVHcloud’s Environmental Impact Tracker. The Bare Metal technology provided by OVHcloud ensures total control over the infrastructure, with dedicated servers and direct access to hardware resources without intermediate layers. This enables technical teams to focus on value-added tasks, as OVHcloud manages the power, network, cooling, and business continuity.

Anthesi built its infrastructure by distributing a selection of machines across multiple datacentres, from Rise servers to more powerful ranges (Advance and Scale). To finalise the project, Anthesi added another key element: the Business support plan, which facilitated collaboration with our technical team.

From a security standpoint, the datacentres hosting its solutions are located exclusively in Europe, which ensures that its data remains subject to EU regulations and shielded from external interference. Moreover, OVHcloud also meets the standards of the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency (Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale - ACN) and holds high-level European certifications, which are key to further improving the platform’s reliability.

“As we look to the future, Bare Metal emerges as a robust base for building high-performance, secure, and sustainable infrastructures”, says Roberto Marzadro, IT Operations & Security Department Manager at Anthesi. “Our objectives include optimising performance with architectures built to minimise latency and boost scalability—in addition to strengthening our European partnerships to consolidate technological sovereignty and ensure data privacy. Furthermore, we intend to broaden our portfolio with a focus on certified security, sustainability and innovation, in line with the evolution of OVHcloud’s products and services.”

Digitalisation in public agencies: driving change through efficiency, transparency, and sustainability

Over the years, public agencies have seen a drop in resource use, offset by new technologies that guarantee efficiency, speed, and transparency. This transition helped to boost the productivity of public workers, a trend that took off during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the need for digital solutions.

The use cases vary widely based on the organisation’s specific structure and operations. Among the noteworthy success stories is the timely completion of projects for various ministries: including tender management for the Ministry of Tourism, digital signature tools for the Ministry of Finance, and more efficient handling of large public contracts, among others.

Public agencies also gained momentum thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which allocated funds for digital transformation. The plan supported local authorities and created new partnership opportunities for specialised companies like Anthesi. In this context, the Pubblica Amministrazione Centrale (Central Public Administration) has yet to fully capitalise on the substantial resources provided by the NRRP.

Data sovereignty is a cross-cutting theme that informs every working group’s initiatives and guides our technological and strategic direction.

Choosing OVHcloud was a successful and obvious move because, as a European provider, it delivers contracts with guaranteed service levels, a value Anthesi also shares. For example, on ‘click days’, when hundreds of requests need to be managed within a short time frame, having scalable software and strong infrastructures is indispensable.

The service’s reliability and guaranteed performance reflect the economic value it offers to customers, who are willing to invest in quality and security.

Anthesi is also an active member of Open Trusted Cloud, an ecosystem that brings together companies committed to protecting European cloud data and prioritising open-source technologies and solutions fully compliant with EU regulations.