If we throw ourselves into Wikipedia and search for digitization, we get the explanation that the term originally described a conversion from analog to digital. Quite simply the process of converting any type of information into ones and zeros. If we use English digitization, we are sent on to digitization where we receive the same information. So far, so good.
Wikipedia’s explanation of digitalization:
“Digitalization is the process in which aspects of social life are restructured around digital communication. As such interactions move away from analog technologies (snail mail, telephone calls) to digital ones (email, chat, social media), both work and leisure domains become digitalized.”
Wikipedia’s definition of digitization:
“Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document or signal (usually an analog signal) obtained by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of points or samples.”
A modernization of the concept of digitization
However, as the digital information has become increasingly self-evident and the emergence of the internet has changed, the significance of the concept of digitization has changed. Many advocate that we differentiate between digitization and digitization.
The word digitalization has the same description that Wikipedia explains, while digitization is described as the process where digital information is used to change working methods and processes. Digitization is thus the actual conversion from analog to digital, while digitization is the process in which we, with the help of digitized information and data storage, change how we work. The digital era is here to stay, and more and more aspects of our lives are becoming digitalized, including everything from smart homes to inspection software.
Digital transformation vs digitalization
Let’s not stay there. You may have also heard the term digital transformation. This concept is often given the same meaning as digitization, but there are those who emphasize the importance of separating them. Digital transformation looks different depending on the company, industry, and area of use. In the concept of digital transformation, even more parts of the business are often woven in than execution, or a process is digitized. For example, behavior change, skills development, and other business activities.
At a basic level, it can be defined as the integration of digital technology in all parts of a company that leads to a change in how the company works and delivers value to its customers. However, it is common to refer to the same thing when mentioning digital transformation and digitization, we also do that, which is not so strange as they are closely related.
How does everything happen?
To connect the conceptual journey, we can thus see digitization as the conversion from analog to digital, digitization as the process where we change our way of working and our structures as a result and digital transformation as the total effect it has in our society or our organization. Digitization is often used as a term to describe all of this.