Is Digitalization More Than Just a Buzzword?

Welcome to the buzzword check: today's aim is to deflate the buzzword bubble surrounding digital transformation a little. We can hardly escape the inflationary use of "digital" as a meaningless adjective or "digitalization" or "digital transformation" as a one-size-fits-all term.

Sometimes we feel uplifted and inspired by statements such as "By comprehensively digitalizing our processes and implementing disruptive technologies, we will create an agile and future-oriented synergy that maximizes our innovative strength". Until we read the sentence a second time and realize that it is not very meaningful.

Can it be more precise? In terms of technology, "digital" means that data is generated, stored and/or processed in two states. These two statuses are positive and non-positive or 1 and 0 - a classic binary system. The common opposite of digital is analog. In contrast to discrete, digital data, analog data is infinitely variable and can therefore store infinitely precise information. The difference between analog and digital therefore lies primarily in the representation of the information.

It would be a mistake to believe that digital data is intangible, while analog data is only ever physical. For example, time cards are a wonderful example of digital, physical data. This classification becomes relevant because we can now explain "digitize". Digitizing means converting analogue data into digital data.

"Digitization" refers not only to the process of converting analogue data into digital form, but also to the possibilities of digital technologies in terms of business models, new revenue sources or added value. Incidentally, our English-speaking colleagues distinguish between "digitization" (conversion from analogue to digital) and "digitalization" (use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities).

The latest buzzword for today is digital transformation, the final stage in the development of digitization and digitalization. Although often used interchangeably, digital transformation is distinct in that it refers to a company's entire strategy. It is not about digitizing individual elements or processes (such as scanning the contents of Leitz folders), but about making fundamental changes with the help of digital technology. One of the best examples is Netflix. Launched as an online video store, the company shipped physical DVDs and Blu-rays to its customers before offering the movies for streaming. What we can describe as digital transformation at Netflix is everything that happens afterwards - broad user data analysis, algorithm-based, personalized suggestions of offers and machine learning scenarios that help with content demand modeling or artwork creation.

After this all-round blow, the question remains as to how we can counter buzzword-laden things. We can either consume and think nothing more. Or we can use the following three points as a guide to expose the emptying of meaning:

• Is there a clear definition of the term or does it just appear frequently? Example: Digital business is the creation of new business designs by blurring the digital and physical worlds.
• Although much is promised, there is a lack of concrete examples of implementation or action. Example: By comprehensively digitalizing our processes and implementing disruptive technologies, we will create an agile and future-oriented synergy that maximizes our innovative strength.
• Wrong context: Our team has developed the digital strategy for cleaning the office space.
• Quite a violent kick, but without definitions, all buzzwords remain empty - and that can't help us. In that sense, see you next time.

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