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Digitization

4 reasons why digitization is anything but useless

As is well known, when analyzing something that turned out to be a bag of hot air, important-sounding but meaningless words were constantly being thrown out.

The exciting question is whether the term “digitization of work” should be put in that category. Here are four good arguments against it:

 

1. Digital is like analog, only different

 

Not everyone has the same understanding of digitization.

  • For IT nerds, it’s about implementing new, cool systems.
  • For some employees, digitization is the feared threat, but for enterprising people, it is the engine of a new job miracle.
  • For consumers who do their shopping from the sofa, digitization simply means more convenience.

In any case, one should remember that digital does not exist by itself. Ultimately, it is always just the conversion of something analogous.

To give a simple example, the analog clock has dials and mechanics, the digital clock works differently. But both show at the same time.

This linking of analog life with the digital world becomes clear with the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). The term describes the connection of objects to each other and to human users. Anything that has an IP address can be included on the network.

The heating thermostat then becomes a smart heating system that the homeowner can control from anywhere in the world using a mobile app. Or the drill that the employees of a construction company share can be found in the software with one click.

Such examples show that there is nothing mysterious or threatening about digitization. They also regulated the heating thermostat beforehand and looked for the drill. Digital is just easier, faster, and simply better.

 

2. Everything that can be digitized will be digitized. Everything.

 

And precisely because digitization offers so many advantages, Peter Glaser, an honorary member of the Chaos Computer Club, is certainly right with his forecast in the headline.

Everything that can be digitized is digitized. And then networked. The digital revolution could make industrialists look pale.

Actually, it’s more of a transformation. After all, it’s not the case that digitization turns everything upside down overnight.

The origin of the Internet, the Arpanet, dates back to 1969. And when the World Wide Web came along 20 years later, almost no one understood what a big thing it was (remember the doubters’ sayings? “Internet? The it’s only good for sex and gambling.”)

Amazon is also 25 years old, and Jeff Bezos, today one of the richest people in the world, was also made fun of at the beginning: Selling books on the Internet? How dumb is that?

And who would have thought in 2007, when the iPhone came out, that just ten years later, the majority of the world population would no longer be able to live without a smartphone?

The point is: Digitization has only just begun and what changes it will bring is hard to imagine for many. But they will be far-reaching.

In the foreseeable future, private individuals will call autonomously driving cars to their front door with an app.

The world of work will discover countless applications. Just think of a virtual reality. VR glasses are already a valued tool.

 

3. If you don’t give a damn about digitization, you’ll soon be giving a damn

 

Digitization will therefore not stop at the world of construction. And so it is clear that it is becoming an important competitive factor. The motto is: If you don’t want to be left behind, you can’t ignore digitization.

For professional users, the importance lies above all in the networking of processes. What previously happened in isolation next to each other, on top of each other, or one after the other is now intelligently connected. So that nothing has to be done twice, in vain or too cumbersome.

The potential for savings and gains in efficiency is huge. Here are some examples:

  • Decentralization of company data: You no longer have to open the folder in the office to know whether a colleague will be back from vacation tomorrow. A mobile phone, the data in the cloud, scratched.
  • Optimization of merchandise management: From the construction site back to the office, find the form, fill it out, and place the order. No longer necessary. The app does that.
  • Machinery Management and Maintenance: Who’s Got the Blowtorch? When is the welder due for maintenance? With the right cloud software, anyone, anytime, anywhere can know the answer.

Of course, there are those who oppose the change. The ones who always say: “We used to get by without it!” Or: “That doesn’t work anyway!”

 

4. Anyone who embraces digitization has one more friend

 

Resistance or not. Digitization is already in full swing.

Of course, you have to consider possible risks. Data security, for example. But the positive effects of digitization will predominate.

Change is difficult for many. When the power loom was invented in England, the weavers smashed it. What are they going to live on when this infernal machine takes over?

What they didn’t understand was that while the new technology is getting rid of their dirty, strenuous, low-paying jobs, it’s not the job itself. After the dust settled, everyone was better off than before.

And so it will be with digitization. Look forward to it.

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