Digitization is the process of converting physical data and/or objects into a digital form. It is an important step that helps the organizations (be they enterprises or public organizations) keep up with the increasing demands of the digital age.
Typically, digitization revolves around scanning of documents, images, schemas, etc. and storing them in a digital form.
What is the difference between digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation?
Even though these terms are often used interchangeably and they all describe a similar process, their meanings differ. Technically speaking, each of the three words describes a different phase of a company’s modernization process:
- Digitization is merely the procedure of turning analog data (e.g., handwritten documents) into their digital counterparts (for instance, PDF documents).
- Digitalization then utilizes the digitized data to improve the company’s processes. (e.g., the collected data are used for automation)
- Digital transformation goes a step further. It is a process of changing the entire company’s strategy and operations to save costs, improve the quality of the outcomes, and gain a competitive advantage.