Digitization
Digitization is simply the act of converting physical information into digital information, such as a printed-out physical paper record that is being scanned into a digital format.
Digitization is the process of creating a digital version of analog/physical things. It is moving from atoms to bits and bytes — from something tangible to something intangible. The goal should solely be that the information can now be used by a computing system to be processed.
Short Definition of Digitization
~ is the act of converting a digital version of an analog/physical thing to make it available to a computing system, like scanning a paper record. It’s about a system of record.
Digitization as a business process
In a broader definition digitization can also take the meaning of the automation of an existing manual processes, converting from an analog to a digital format; i.e. as a result of the the digitization of information you no longer have to handle a physical paper record and can provide and build a workflow of digital information that everybody involved can take for granted as being the source of truth, the latest, current version of information.
Digitalization
Digitalization is an enabler of improvement and transformation. Just like the technology around steam engines was used to pump water from coal mines and windmills to grind crop into flour, now information technologies are leveraged to turn digital and digitized data into actionable knowledge.
From a firms perspective Digitalization is “the process of employing digital technologies and information to transform business operations” (Gartner), leveraging technology to improve business operations, business functions, and even business models. The new lever of information technology now allows you to get creative around:
- The rethinking of how work could be done in a different way.
- The possibilities of what has been impossible or impracticable in the past.
- The way of working becomes different through the process of digitalization.
Therefore digitalization in your firm is percevied as a process that usually improves and transforms a specific ‘environment’ or area of your business. I.e. once the steam engine is in place and operates to pump out the water, you’ll still mine for coal or produce flour, but with a different set of technology and skilled labor; while at the same time you might be able to produce flour just-in-time.
Short Definition of Digitalization
~ is way of engaging with information and interaction with actors that can be totally new or leveraged through digital technology and information technology. It’s about a system of engagement.
While you had to hop on a plane with big sketches, renderings and construction plans rolled up in your poster tube and you’d fly to your clients and you’d present in person, in the 1970s, you started to use the telephone and a fax machine in the 1990s. You had to make sure that your sketches and writing was bold and big enough for the fax to be still identifiable on the other end by your client. Today, a computer screen and video conferencing is all you need, and your visual communication has adapted to the possibilities of the new technology. Everything is designed to be emailed and to be put on a screen. You’re not held back by the limits of the paper or how big of a tube you can roll up and fly to your clients with.
The technology and ways of how we visually communicate will continue to change. What will not change is that visual communication itself — both with your counterpart and through sketches — is extremely important, but the means have and how you can leverage yourself and the skills of your workforce.
Digital Transformation
The term Digital Transformation describes the phenomena of change, a change that information technology enables to take place.
It’s now longer the steam technology that provides the biggest lever to improve business and humanity, but now digital technology influences outcomes the most.
Digital Transformation can be used in a macro or in a micro view: It can be used to describe the societal change of the labor market, or to describe an enterprise-wide phenomenon; to describe the use of computer-controlled machines in your industry, or the use of digital visualizations and renderings to communicate between customers and your workers on your shop floor.
Short Definition of Digital Transformation
~ is the phenomenon of change where information technologies take over the main act as the technology enabler and technology lever, becoming the main driver for business innovation. It’s about a change to a new technology innovation influences innovation.
“Digital Transformation” as term is ever changing and its meaning always a child of its specific time. The strategies, actions, and tools will change with the passage of time as we move to what is described in many colorful terms(Industry 4.0, New Machine Age, Industrial Internet…), but basically is just a new industrial era.
It’s about the digital capabilities, and
- The way how you use the power of computing systems to get to information and intelligence,
- What you do with your digital information and data,
- How you leverage the that information and those insights,
- How you get creative with those possibilities and knowledge now at your hands,
- And eventually the action you take for your business. Because entrepreneur literally means “to take action.”
Transformation means the requirement to change patterns, to stop using spreadsheets and leverage new technology. This can be difficult because of lack of knowledge and not being comfortable taking the entrepreneurial risks that landed entrepreneurial success in the first place. We at Coshape are looking for early adopters who are care for potential benefits above else (contact us).
Digitization and Digitalization in Manufacturing and Production
We have established that digitization is about systems of record and digitalization is about systems of engagement and systems of insight, leveraging the digitized data and processes.
Example:
- Scanning and recognizing an physical object and digitally removing procedural artifacts.
Digital-to-physical, the process of digitization. - Editing the scanned object in a CAD software, then moving on to a production preparation software to prepare the edited digital file for a manufacturing machine.
Your digital workflow empowered by digitalization. - Computer-controlled manufacturing machine turns the CAD model into a physical Object. like with CNC milling or 3-D printing
Back from bits and bytes to atoms.
Digitalization does not necessarily mean that everything has to be digital or digitized: If you don’t need that information to be used in a CAD system and have a copying lathe or a lathe duplicator you wouldn’t need digitization!
Making an axe handle with a 1900 copying lathe at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Now, why does it matter in production and manufacturing?
Because the creation of physical artifacts in the real world usually involves many stakeholders from customers, marketers & sales people, engineers, designer, and it with the creation of digital information their overlapping workflows become easier to work on a joint mission. And everybody in that workflow can use software and automation that makes their life easier, and to task the computer with the tedious and receptive tasks. Software exists to scale yourself, your senses and skills and abilities.
