Digitization, Digitalization, And Digital Transformation Explained

As the dependence on the Internet increases in various fields, many new terms evolve, which increases confusion and which one to use. Whether you are a brand owner looking to embrace online marketing and include it in your campaigns or someone who wants to increase your knowledge about digital marketing, you might find yourself using some terms interchangeably without knowing the difference. An example of this is the difference between digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation. Not knowing the difference between the various terms used in the digital world might end up making wrong choices and misunderstanding of what someone might need.

Digitization

According to Gartner’s IT Glossary, “Digitization is the process of changing from analog to digital form”.

Digitization is the simple process of converting physical information into a digital format. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, or a document.”

For instance, scanning paper content to turn it into a digital document that can be saved in your folders, or extracting a video of a tape and turning it into a digital form. It is the connection between our real world and software. It is an old process, and it has been there since the 60s.

However, keep in mind that digitization is the plain process of extracting a piece of information from the real world and turning it into a digital format that we can use later like the examples mentioned before.

Digitalization

Digitalization, on the other hand, is the use of digital technologies to change a business model or provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. In other words, it is the process of moving to a digital business. So, most of the efforts are software-driven.

Some examples of digitalization could be digital channels, digital products, e-commerce websites, and video conferencing.

READ: PHARMA IS EXPANDING DIGITAL AD SPEND [WHY AND HOW]

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is the change of a whole business to implement digitalization in most of its aspects. It is the process of embracing digital technologies in almost all the activities done by a business and making digital solutions a priority when setting strategies. It is more of a shift in the mindset on a strategic level.

Another way to explain it is that it is changing business processes that have been enabled or imposed by digitization technologies. For example, shifting from controlling a physical process locally, to controlling it remotely.

READ: HOW DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION HAS CHANGED THE WAY BRANDS WORK

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