Digital transformation

Some elements have been transformed for being useful

Digital transformation is the change associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society.[1]

Digital transformation may be thought of as the third stage of embracing digital technologies:

digital competence → digital usage → digital transformation

with usage and transformative ability informing digital literacy. The transformation stage means that digital usages inherently enable new types of innovation and creativity in a particular domain, rather than simply enhance and support traditional methods.[2]

In a narrower sense, "digital transformation" may refer to the concept of "going paperless", which affects both individual businesses[3] and whole segments of society, such as government,[4] mass communications,[5] art,[6] medicine,[7] and science.[8]

Historic development

Binary

In 1703 Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz explained and envisioned the concept that would be known as "digitalization" in his publication Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire.[9] Initially developed as a base-2 numerical system, representing two values: either a 1 or 0, the system was further developed and complemented by scholars such as Boole (1854),[10] Shannon (1938)[11] and George Stibitz during the 1940s.[12]

Early digital computers

Today, Stibitz is considered one of many pioneers of the digital computer, through the development of the first electromechanical computer from his discovery of the automatic computing relays as well as the term 'digital'. The first electronic computer was introduced by John Atanasoff in 1939. The process of digitalization thereafter accelerated, with the development of personal computers such as the Simon in 1950, Apple II in 1977 and IBM PC in 1981.[13]

Accelerated change

With the introduction of the World Wide Web, the scope, dimension, scale, speed as well as effects of digitalization fundamentally changed, resulting in the increased pressure on the societal transformation process.[14]

In 2000, digitalization began to be used more widely as a concept and argument for an overall governmental introduction of IT, increased usage of internet and IT on all levels. A similar development began in the general business climate in order to raise awareness regarding the issue and opportunity. In the EU for instance, an initiative called the Digital Single Market was developed, with recommendations for national digital agendas in the EU, which gradually and positively should contribute to the future societal transformation, with more modern development of communities, structures and to create a basis for e-governance and information society.

Impact

The debate surrounding digitalization has therefore gained increased practical importance for politics, business and social issues, and is linked to political work issues for community development, new changes in the practical business approaches, effective opportunities for organizations in operational and business process development, with effect on internal and external efficiency of IT to name a few.

Development

Digitization is a sub-process of a much larger technological progress (see below): digitization (the conversion), digitalization (the process) and the digital transformation (the effect) that are collectively accelerating the global and societal transformation process.[14]

Digitization

In political, business, trade, industry and media discourses, digitization is defined as "the conversion of analog information into digital form" (i.e. numeric, binary format). Digitizing is technically explained as the representation of signals, images, sounds and objects by generating a series of numbers, expressed as a discrete value.[14] The majority of sectors and industries in media, banking and finance, telecoms, medtech and health care have been strongly affected by this conversion of information.[15]

Digitalization

Unlike digitization, digitalization is the actual 'process' of the technologically-induced change within these industries.[14] This process has enabled much of the phenomena today known as the Internet of Things, Industrial Internet, Industry 4.0, Big data, machine to machine communication, blockchain, cryptocurrencies etc.

The academic discussion surrounding digitalization has been described as problematic as no clear definition of the phenomena has been previously developed.[16] A common misconception is that digitalization essentially means the usage of more IT, in order to enable and take advantage of digital technology and data. This early definition however, has largely been replaced by the above definition, now linked to holistic views on business and social change, horizontal organizational and business development, as well as IT.

Digital transformation

Finally, digital transformation is described as "the total and overall societal effect of digitalization".[14] Digitization has enabled the process of digitalization, which resulted in stronger opportunities to transform and change existing business models, socio-economic structures, legal and policy measures, organizational patterns, cultural barriers, etc.[16][17]

Digitization (the conversion), digitalization (the process) and the digital transformation (the effect) therefore accelerate and illuminate the already existing and ongoing horizontal and global processes of change in society.[14][15]

Opportunities and challenges

When planning for digital transformation, organizations must factor the cultural changes they'll confront as workers and organizational leaders adjust to adopting and relying on unfamiliar technologies.[18] Digital transformation has created unique marketplace challenges and opportunities, as organizations must contend with nimble competitors who take advantage of the low barrier to entry that technology provides.[19] Additionally, due to the high importance given today to technology and the widespread use of it, the implications of digitalization for revenues, profits and opportunities have a dramatic upside potential.[20]

Other studies

In November 2011, a three-year study conducted by the MIT Center for Digital Business and Capgemini Consulting concluded that only one-third of companies globally have an effective digital transformation program in place.[21]

The study defined an "effective digital transformation program" as one that addressed

A report published in 2013 by Booz & Company warns that the impact of digitization "is not uniform".[22] This points out that some sectors and countries have taken to digitization more readily than others. It concludes that "policymakers need to develop digitization plans across sectors that take into consideration the varying impact by level of economic development and sector".

In 2015, the World Economic Forum and Accenture launched the digital transformation initiative (DTI) to study and research the impact of digitalization. The initiative offers unique insights into the impact of digital technologies on business and wider society over the next decade. DTI research supports collaboration between the public and private sectors focused on ensuring that digitalization unlocks new levels of prosperity for both industry and society. A 2017 interim report claims that digital transformation "could deliver $ 100 trillion in value to business and society over the next decade". [23]

A 2015 report by MIT Center for Digital Business and Deloitte found that "maturing digital businesses are focused on integrating digital technologies, such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud, in the service of transforming how their businesses work. Less-mature digital businesses are focused on solving discrete business problems with individual digital technologies."[24]

In February 2017, a study by McKinsey & Company argued that "On average, industries are less than 40 percent digitized, despite the relatively deep penetration of these technologies in media, retail, and high tech". This study also points out the inequality in the penetration of digital change across industries, arguing that while in some industries there were core changes due to digitization, in others the impact of this phenomenon was limited to minor or secondary changes.[25]

In July 2017, a survey of 1239 global IT and business professionals was released by the digital performance management company Dynatrace. While this study shows, that 48% of its participants "stated digital performance challenges were directly hindering the success of digital transformation strategies in their companies", the survey also refers to 75% of respondents, "who had low levels of confidence in their ability to resolve digital performance problems".[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stolterman, Erik; Croon Fors, Anna (2004). "Information Technology and the Good Life". Information systems research: relevant theory and informed practice. p. 689. ISBN 1-4020-8094-8.
  2. ↑ Lankshear, Colin; Knobel, Michele (2008). Digital literacies: concepts, policies and practices. p. 173. ISBN 978-1433101694. The ultimate stage is that of digital transformation and is achieved when the digital usages which have been developed enable innovation and creativity and stimulate significant change within the professional or knowledge domain.
  3. ↑ Digital transformation: the essentials of e-business leadership, by Keyur Patel, Mary Pat McCarthy, 2000, ISBN 0-07-136408-0
  4. ↑ E-government in Canada: transformation for the digital age By Jeffrey Roy, 2006, ISBN 0-7766-0617-4
  5. ↑ Mass Communication And Its Digital Transformation, by Ramanujam, 2009, ISBN 81-313-0039-0
  6. ↑ Art & Computers: an exploratory investigation on the digital transformation of art. PH.D. thesis, published in Cyber Flux News, July 1997, and in the Encyclopedia of Postmodernism, Victor E. Taylor, Charles E. Winquist, London and New York, Routledge, 2001.
  7. ↑ Digital medicine: implications for healthcare leaders, by Jeff Charles Goldsmith, 2003, ISBN 1-56793-211-8
  8. ↑ Digital Transformation By Mark Baker, 2014, ISBN 978-1500448486
  9. ↑ von Leibniz, Gottfried (1703). Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire, Die Sciences (Thesis). Académie royale des sciences.
  10. ↑ Boole, George (2009) [1854]. An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities. reprinted with corrections [1958] ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. Macmillan, Dover Publications. ISBN 978-1-108-00153-3.
  11. ↑ Shannon, C. E. (1938). A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits. Trans. AIEE 57 (12): 713–723. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  12. ↑ Tropp, H. S., (1993), "Stibitz, George Robert," in Anthony Ralston and Edwin D. Reilly, eds., Encyclopedia of Computer Science, Third Edition (New York: van Nostrand Rheinhold, 1993), pp. 1284–1286.
  13. ↑
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khan, Shahyan (2017-06-02). Leadership in the Digital Age - a study on the effects of digitalization on top management leadership (PDF) (Thesis). Stockholm Business School.
  15. 1 2
  16. 1 2 Chew, Eng (2015-07-01) [2013]. "Value Co-creation in the Organizations of the Future" (PDF). IT Leadership in Transition-The Impact of digitalization on Finish Organizations. ISBN 978-952-60-6243-3. ISSN 1799-490X.
  17. ↑ "What Is Digital Transformation And Why Enterprises Must Embrace It Now?". Impigertech. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  18. ↑ Jane McConnell. "The Company Cultures That Help (or Hinder) Digital Transformation". Hbr.org. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  19. ↑ Rhys Grossman. "The Industries That Are Being Disrupted the Most by Digital". Hbr.org. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  20. ↑ McKinsey, the case for digital reinvention (Feb. 2017). Accessed May13th, 2017. http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-case-for-digital-reinvention
  21. 1 2 Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for Billion-Dollar Organization (PDF) (Report). Capgemini Consulting. 2011.
  22. ↑ "Digitization for economic growth and job creation: Regional and industry perspectives".
  23. ↑ World Economic Forum Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI) website. Accessed May 13th, 2017. http://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/
  24. ↑ Kane, Gerald; Palmer, Doug; Nguyen Phillips, Anh; Kiron, David; Buckley, Natasha. "Strategy, not Technology, Drives Digital Transformation". MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  25. ↑ http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-case-for-digital-reinvention
  26. ↑ https://www.dynatrace.com/digital-transformation-audit/

Bibliography

  1. ↑ Bounfour, A. (2016). Digital Futures, Digital Transformation, Progress in IS. Springer International Publishing, Cham.
  2. ↑ Vogelsang, M. (2010). Digitalization in Open Economies, Contributions to Economics. Physica-Verlag HD, Heidelberg.
  3. ↑ Westerman, G. Bonnet, D., McAfee, A. (2014). Leading Digital: Turning technology into business transformation. Harvard Business Press.
  4. ↑ Collin, J., Hiekkanen, K., Korhonen, JJ, the heel, M., Itälä, T., Helenius, M ., (2015). IT Leadership in Transition-The Impact of digitalization on Finnish Organization. Research report, Aalto University. Department of Computer Science.
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