Article

Digitization vs. Digitalization – What are the Differences?

10 Feb,2023 - Yangon | 2 mins read

Author: Ahmad Abdallah, Chief Operations Officer at ATOM

While the words digitization and digitalization are often used interchangeably, understanding the differences between these two terms is important towards establishing the digital transformation approach for a business. In this article, I would like to shed light on each term with examples.

What Does ‘Digitalize’ Mean?

There are two meanings to the word digitalize. The first is the digitization of an object, or the conversion of a physical object into a digital version. The second meaning is the digitalization, or process, of applying digital technology to everyday tasks or operations to improve efficiency and productivity. In short, digitization is related to information, whereas digitalization relates to processes.

Digitization

The goal of digitization is to make information more easily accessible, storable, maintained, and shared. Examples of this include scanning a physical book to an e-book or a photo album to an online gallery. The data itself is unchanged as it is simply encoded in digital format.

When data is digitized, it can be accessed easily and processes can be automated, bringing efficiency to businesses. Using the example of a florist business, the owner of the business may want to take photos of flower arrangements and print them to create a physical book for customers to browse in the store. The owner of the business can also digitize the photos to create an e-catalogue for online browsing, without requiring customers to be in the store.

Digitalization

Digitalization takes things further as it involves the use of digital technologies and tools to transform tasks or processes. For example, moving from sending physical letters to using email, or using videoconferencing tools instead of having in-person meetings.

Using the example of a florist business again, the owner of the business may want to digitalize certain processes such as online ordering, invoicing and payments instead of manual processes. Often, digitalization enables businesses to change their model, or shift towards a digital business to develop new revenue opportunities, valued-added prospects and better ways to serve customers. The digitalization of a business can be an ongoing process, since new technologies emerge to improve processes.

Final Thoughts

In summary, digitization and digitalization go hand in hand in to support organizations with their transformation into digital enterprises, making it possible for better agility and performance.

As part of our commitment to support Myanmar’s business ecosystem and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), ATOM offers a suite of business solutions that enable companies to realise their digital transformation goals, be it for digitization or digitalization objectives, or a combination of both.

In this digital age, it is time for businesses to evaluate, reengineer and reimagine new ways of doing business. For more information about our business solutions, please visit: https://www.atom.com.mm/en/business.