Differences and Similarities

Digitization, Digitization, and Digital Transformation

C. L. Beard
Writers’ Blokke
3 min readAug 24, 2023

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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

What Does it Mean to Digitize or Digitalize?

Digitalizing can be defined as two things. Essentially it refers to digitalized objects in digital formats. Digitalization is the conversion from physical objects by analog process to digital forms. The second term is the conversion of information in digital forms by digital means. Digitalization is often used as a method to digitize the information or audio files of a computer or a device. It is also used to explain the process of digitizing information into digital form.

  • It involves taking analog/physical data and converting it into digital data. For example, scanning paper documents into digital copies, or converting audio recordings into digital files.
  • Digitization makes information easier to access, store, manage and analyze using various software tools and applications.
  • It enables new ways of working and collaboration since digital information can be easily shared across locations and departments.
  • Digitization allows the automation of certain manual processes involving paper-based workflows. This can help boost efficiency.
  • It is a key step towards digital transformation, enabling new digital business models, analytics-driven decisions, and digital customer engagement.

Potential benefits include reduced costs, faster processes, easier compliance, better analytics, and improved customer experience. Key ways businesses digitize information include scanning documents, e-signatures, digitizing records, archiving files online, and putting services online. Challenges include costs of digitization, ensuring data quality, security, integration, and adopting new digitized workflows.

Why Is Digital Transformation Important?

Digital transformation is designed to make your job easier.

Do businesses have plans for digitization? Most organizations gather data from all departments within a single organization into an integrated enterprise planning (ERP) system where the collected data is grouped and integrated. ERPs offer business value through improved efficiency, modern business procedures, standardization, and visibility into business processes.

The Gartner glossary defines digitalization as using digitally developed products or services to transform businesses into digital business models. Digitalization has accelerated and mass-marketed the development of new digital technologies, such as cloud computing, machine learning, and AI over recent years.

Digital transformation continues to evolve quickly even when adoption leveraging digital technologies is gaining momentum among businesses and societies across the country. Digital Transformation is not just an issue with technology. It can help organizations improve their profitability and reduce costs as well as increase efficiency and productivity. Technology has nothing in common with business transformation except its purpose. Digital transformation means that organizations can create new value chains and experiences that work collaboratively, interactively, sustainably, and profitably.

Digitization in Business

Typically digitizing data using the scanning of paper form can help store data on computer screens and later process the data to gain customer demographic data and insights. Digitalization allows businesses a chance to digitize their business processes to increase revenues.

Understanding Digital Transformation

Closely connected with digitization vs digital transformation and digitalization, the definition of digital representation has morphed as technology advances. Digital transformation focuses essentially on establishing and maintaining digital businesses. A company can leverage digital technology to change a business’s whole way of thinking and transform the approach in order to create adaptability and significantly increase its performance. Digitalization is a long way off from digitization and then digital transformation.

Digital Transformation in Business

Digitalization is fundamentally changing business operations. Digital transformation combines technology and innovation to create new value for the business model client base. Often new businesses are built exclusively through the digitalization process. Spotify removed its physical collection of CDs to create a digital version of an online music collection. Then you can easily listen to your music anytime anywhere. Digital change is largely unique within organizations and companies.

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C. L. Beard
Writers’ Blokke

I am a writer living on the Salish Sea. I also publish my own AI newsletter https://brainscriblr.beehiiv.com/, come check it out.