Mouthing digitalization

EDITORS DESK

Even before the pandemic, the term digitalization was already floating out there. But when the pandemic broke out, the term became a household name. The exigency of the times has forced the government and the private sector to run to technology for comfort.

Everybody’s mouthing digitalization, like it was the best weapon to come out after the pandemic failed in its darn best to erase civilization. But what is digitalization, really? How is it differentiated from digitization? I myself got confused.

Based on my readings, digitization is conversion of the analog or physical data into computer friendly data. When we scan a photo or a document, we are in effect digitizing that object without altering what is written in the document. That’s the time when computerization started.

But digitalization is way beyond computerization and digitization. It is a transformation journey.

Digitalization is embracing and making use of digital technology to collect data, establish trends, and make better business decisions. Simply put, we can digitize a document, but you can digitalize a factory or a bureaucracy. It is making use of digital technology to achieve the desired goals.

With digitalization in place, organizations and businesses can begin to create new value chains and exp