Glossary · Processes & structure
Digitisation
Converting information from paper into a digital file. The delivery note becomes a PDF, but the work itself does not change.
Digitisation is the first and simplest step: you convert information that sits on paper into a digital file. The delivery note the customer signs is scanned and stored as a PDF. The information is now digital, but the work itself does not change. Someone still fills in the same note, and back at the office someone still retypes it to make out the invoice.
Digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation
The three words look alike and are often used interchangeably, but they describe three different steps. Digitisation is about the information: what was on paper becomes a file. DigitalisationConverting paper-based or manual processes into digital ones. is about the process: the note no longer goes round on paper or as a PDF, but runs through a system where you enter the data only once. Digital transformationHelping your organisation work smarter with technology, not as an IT project but as a way of working. goes one step further and rethinks the way of working itself.
What you gain, and what you don't
Digitisation is certainly useful. You find documents faster, you lose fewer of them and your archive no longer fills cupboards. But if you expect it to mean less work, you will be disappointed: retyping a PDF takes as much time as retyping a paper note. Time savings and fewer errors only come when you digitalise the process as well.
