Digital Transformation And Digitization, How Are They Different?

Differences Between Digital Transformation And Digitization

Have you ever wondered the differences between digital transformation and digitization? In order to understand where we are, we have to know how to differentiate between two key concepts: digitization and digital transformation. In a very summarized way, we can say that  digitization  is transforming a document into digital, while a  digital transformation  implies doing the entire process digitally, from start to finish.

Converting Documents To PDF Does Not Mean Being Digitized

One of the big problems that we find in the business world is when a company believes that it is digitized, although all it does is  convert  physical documents into digital ones, but  regardless of the process.

The typical example is the client who says that he already has the supplier invoice process digitized, when all he does is scan a document that has followed an analog and manual process, to convert it into a PDF with no value.

A) Manual Processing Of A Vendor Invoice

Details of the process: we receive a supplier invoice by mail, someone prints it to pass it on to a person in charge for validation. Once it has passed through this point, it passes to another person who compares this invoice with the order and/or delivery note(s). If everything is fine, the invoice is posted in the ERP, digitizes all the documents, attaches them to the ERP “ document manager ”, staples the documents and files them in an AZ manual filing cabinet.

Does that process sound familiar to you? Actually, what is being done is transforming a paper document into digital, but without knowing the trace of what has happened to it.

B) Digital Process Of A Digitally Transformed Company

Now, we are going to explain the  process imagining that we have already transformed digitally:  we receive the same supplier invoice by mail. Without the need to print , the information is extracted from the invoice to be able to process the data digitally.

Once this process has been carried out, it is  digitally assigned to a person in charge  for approval, which can be done in an automated manner, without the need for human intervention. It is compared with the order and/or delivery note/s in an automated manner. And, finally, it is recorded in the  ERP , writing the digital location of the invoice so that it can be consulted at any time.

The Key Is To Study The Problem

What, better not? It is a matter of studying the problem and looking for the solution. We are used to looking for partial solutions that do not satisfy us. What if we analyze the problem completely and look for the most satisfactory solution?  That really is being resolute, that really takes us down the path of  digital transformation.

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