digitization
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CT: What is the difference between (1) ‘digitization’, (2) ‘digitalization’, and (3) ‘digital transformation’?

(1) ‘Digitization’ is the process of converting information from analog to digital. When we are converting a paper report to a digital file, such as a PDF, the data itself is not changed but simply encoded in a digital format. Digitization can reap efficiency benefits but does not seek to optimize the processes or data. “Digitisation will have the impact on supply chains that steam and electricity had on manufacturing”, declared a manager at Bain. “Companies in many industries are experimenting with a variety of new technologies and methods that promise to improve how they plan, source, make and deliver. These innovations are making supply chains smarter by increasing their predictability, transparency and speed of delivery” … “Digitisation is helping to deliver goods faster” (The Economist, 2019).

(2) ‘Digitalization’ uses digitized information to simplify how we work and make it more efficient, such as by using digital technology to transform reporting processing and the collection and analyses of data. Digitalization does not change how we do business or create new types of businesses. Rather, it deals with making our work faster and better. It is a transformation that moves beyond digitization. While digitization is a conversion of data and processes, digitalization is a transformation.

(3) ‘Digital transformation’ (DT) “is changing the way business gets done and, in some cases, creating entirely new classes of businesses. With digital transformation, companies are taking a step back and revisiting everything they do, from internal systems to customer interactions both online and in person” (GEP, 2021). In one of its articles, McKinsey defines digital transformation as “an effort to enable existing business models by integrating advanced technologies” (Bughin et al., 2019).

S: SDir (last access: 28 January 2026)

N: 1. digitization is formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: “digitize” v., + “‑ation” suffix.

  • According to OED, the earliest known use of the noun digitization is in the 1950s.
  • OED’s earliest evidence for digitization is from 1956, in IRE Trans. Instrumentation.
  • According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first known use of digitization was in 1954.
  • The process of converting something to digital form.

2. Digitization is the process of converting analog information into a digital format. In this format, information is organized into discrete units of data called bits that can be separately addressed, usually in multiple-bit groups called bytes.

This is the binary data that computers and many devices with computing capacity, such as digital cameras and digital hearing aids, can process.

3. Information Technology (Informatics); Management Operations (General); Public Administration (General): digitalization, digitalizing, digitization, digitizing.

  • Digitalization refers to enabling, improving or transforming business [processes] by leveraging digital technologies (e.g., APIs [application programming interfaces]) and digitized data.
  • digitalization; digitalizing; digitization; digitizing: Some authors recommend using the terms “digitalization” or “digitalizing” to refer to the enablement, improvement or transformation of business processes through the leveraging of digital technologies and digitized data, and the terms “digitization” or “digitizing” to designate the process of converting analog signals or information into computer-readable values.
  • Not to be confused with digital transformation.

4. Information Processing (Informatics): digitization, digitizing, digitalization, digitalizing.

  • The process of converting analog signals or information collected by a device designed for this purpose into computer-readable values.
  • Digitization makes it possible to represent phenomena or objects from the real world, including sounds, documents and images, with a computer.
  • digitization; digitizing; digitalization; digitalizing: Some authors recommend using the terms “digitization” or “digitizing” to designate the process of converting analog signals or information into computer-readable values, and the terms “digitalization” or “digitalizing” to refer to the enablement, improvement or transformation of business processes through the leveraging of digital technologies and digitized data.

S: 1. MW (last access: 27 January 2026); OED (last access: 27 January 2026). 2. TechTarget (last access: 28 January 2026). 3 & 4. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 28 January 2026).

OV: digitisation

S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 28 January 2026)

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CR: computational science, computer science, cuivre, energy transition, green IT, Internet, Internet of Things, telemedicine, transport network.