Digitizing vs digitalizing in content services

In the information technology space today, there are some buzzwords like platform, digitizing and digitalization. So what does this mean to your business, and more importantly, could your organization benefit from this in the content services space? 

The difference between ‘digitizing’ and ‘digitalizing’

Digitizing means taking your existing business models and processes into a digital interface without changing the core downstream structures. This is a must for securing your existing business, but it will not take you all the way to digitalization.

Digitalizing your business means going all digital from the start. Both your core processes and business models are built to be digital and to be used in a digital interface end-to-end from sales to administration to customer service.

The Working Mouse goes a good step further in assigning meaning. It defines digitalization as "the process of leveraging digitisation to improve business processes.” Similar to Wikipedia, Working Mouse also says, “Digitization is the process of converting information from a physical format into a digital one.” 

Word – digitization, not digitalization

Imagine the revolution in content management when the typewriter replaced pen and paper. Suddenly the knowledge worker could be more productive with better tools. In 1983 the first version of Word was released. Word was a massive improvement to the typewriter. It was a game changer in digitizing the paper, basically moving from paper to a file-based system. The file-based system was a massive improvement and basically enabled people to produce documents faster. This digitizing took the existing model of typewriters into a digital model without changing the structures.

However, this revolution was not digitalizing the business as the process was not digitalized from start to end, and neither were the core processes and business models changed. It basically just made it easier for the knowledge worker to produce content a bit faster.

Digitalizing the content management process may in many cases require additions or a move away from Word. Word is inherently built to replace the typewriter, and of course one can build processes on top of Word. But, the fact remains that Word is essentially made for a single worker. 

A common challenge when creating a complex document, or any time-sensitive document for that matter, with multiple contributors, often spread across various time zones, is the limitation of the file. This is a problem that many organizations face in their day-to-day operations. A key reason is the challenges inherent with a file. Many companies have solutions wherein contributors need to check-in and check-out content (a file), or they use email to distribute tasks and content. 

Digitalize your core process and business model with a database-driven document solution

A database-driven document solution will digitalize your core process and business model. It can manage multiple contributors, and integrate with all your solutions to manage change in the same live document, enabling businesses to build a digital interface from end-to-end for your content and document-centric processes. By providing a complete overview, and streamlining your document processes, it enables you to fully digitalize your content services.

Start digitalizing your core content management process and business model and enhance your content management with a solution that can digitalize your process. Look into a database-driven document solution.