What is Digital Technology?
Digital technologies are electronic tools, systems, devices, and resources that store and process data. Some examples of digital technology are social media, online games, multimedia, mobile phones, etc., which refer more to digital learning technology.
Even if you are interested in digital technologies and know their details and uses, there are still some uncertainties about exploring these opportunities to create a perfect digital transformation strategy.
Aspects such as the language used in digital technology and other similar concepts create confusion when trying to understand the meaning of digitization and digital transformation.
What is Digitization?
Digitization is a process where the analog form is changed into a digital format called digital enablement. Examples include converting music to MP3 from CD or vinyl records, paper documents into digital files, etc.
With the advancement of technology, more and more businesses are moving towards digitization. They are moving from physical and non-digital aspects of every part to making things digital.
Changing and converting all these so-called physical carriers of data and information into digital versions makes things easier and allows us to extract the information that can be transferred, processed, transmitted, and used to optimize processes. Following this, digitization means the automation of existing manual and paper-based processes. Through digitization, the overall cost can be reduced. Digital technology gives businesses a sort of assessment data to make better business decisions.
What is Digitalization?
Differentiating between digitization and digitalization may seem like nit-picking, and we can miss certain tiny details. Still, they are incredibly different concepts with different functions, importance, and implications in the industry.
The primary and most precise definition of digitalization is digital technology and digitized data affect how work gets done. Changing and impacting how customers and companies do their job, engage and interact with each other, and create a better revenue stream for their businesses can also be considered parts of the work done by companies.
We can conclude that without digitization, we cannot think about proceeding with digitalization. For example, converting a paper document to digital files is digitization, and converting those digital files into a cloud-based system to transform collaboration using analytical tools that further boost efficiency and make the entire process highly knowledgeable is digitalization.
Such digitalization will reduce and minimize risks and increase and promote better efficiency for all future projects.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digitalization is one of the primary and essential steps for digital transformation. It has a vast and recognizable effect on products, delivery services, and people. It impacts organizational cultures and is also used to reshape how business values and operations are created.
But digital transformation is way more significant than that. It has a broader aspect, it is not only using or applying technology to an existing business, but it also means and depends on rapid adaptability whenever technology and information are required.
Let us look at how digital transformation has come out in various industries.
If we talk about the education industry, digital transformation here is actually aimed at improving student experiences.
If we consider the healthcare industry, more and more healthcare institutions are actually paving the way for digital transformation due to the pandemic. It is rightly said that digital transformation in the healthcare domain is actually a building block for patients. There has been a rise in on-demand healthcare facilities through online methods. This is a form of digital transformation.
If we talk about the automotive industry, there are various technologically driven trends and new customer demands that explain the entire concept. Digital transformation in this domain involves changes in manufacturing, operations, maintenance, and the product design process. Tesla ended up becoming the most valuable car manufacturer because of its high investment in the research and development domain for electric and self-driving vehicles. This is another example of digital transformation at its best.
If we look at the retail industry, there are various cost-saving and automation efforts that people are taking up to incorporate digital transformation strategies. There has been a massive growth in e-commerce, and people have stopped visiting stores. This has reduced costs and increased the efficiency of the entire process.
It is quite evident that digital transformation is a better strategy. It is also an ongoing mission, where organizations are trying to incorporate it into their daily operations so that they can ensure higher efficiency and create a more competitive environment.
Conclusion
Every industry is growing speedily. Hence, industries need advanced methods and technologies to facilitate further growth. They want to create a better environment and increase job opportunities and make these jobs accessible to everyone. And for all these goals, digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation are important.
