Digitization
Digitization is the next step after dematerialization and involves capturing the data and information needed for the business in a digital format that can be used directly by the company's various IT tools. This data can then be automatically (or semi-automatically) transposed into information or products that can be used by the company : production, accounting, invoicing, sales follow-up, monitoring, etc.
There are three ways of entering data in digitized format: manual entry by the user (internal or third party), importing digitized data located at a third party and digitizing physical data using a technical solution. In order to automatically (or semi-automatically) use this digitized data, it must be stored in a format that can be used by the concerned IT tools. Then comes the need to clean the data, i.e. to check its accuracy and uniqueness. These operations are crucial and must be handled carefully to obtain quality results.
Digitized data is often organised in tables that are linked together in database management systems (DBMS).
The use of a well-designed input mask usually ensures that manually entered data is in a good format (e.g. internet, DBMS). Over time, certain standards have been developed for transmitting digitized data between third parties (e.g. .txt, .csv or .xml); importing sometimes still requires some reprocessing, which can be automated. For the digitization of physical data, tools designed for the transmission of simple information (e.g. sensors, radio identification, etc.) are very effective. This is more problematic when it comes to digitizing physical documents of various formats (e.g. document recognition/reading systems). Human intervention is usually required to ensure the accuracy of the data captured.
Computerised processing of digitised data can significantly improve the speed and quality of the results to be produced. The initial setup of the data processing process has a certain cost, but once finalised the error rate is significantly lower than its human equivalent, not to mention the processing speed. These properties often lead to a decisive gain in productivity for the company's operations.
A "media break" occurs whenever the transmission chain of digitized data is broken, i.e. when data is transferred or re-entered manually, or even transited on various physical documents. The current digital revolution in the business world aims to eliminate all media breaks, not only within companies but also between third-party companies.
Digitization, Confederation SME portal:
Initiative for digitization in Switzerland:
https://digitalswitzerland.com/
Platform for regional development in Switzerland:
https://regiosuisse.ch/fr/projects/ext/932/alp-ict
Innovation platform for Western Switzerland: