Before describing Omnia’s Document Management Smart Application, it is necessary to clarify three terms (digitization, digitalization and digital transformation): that are often confused, bringing about serious errors in choosing software for companies.

For starters, digitization is creating a digital (bits and bytes) version of analog/physical things such as paper documents, microfilm images, photographs, sounds and more.

• Process Digitization: shifting a process to digital format by reproducing the process as it is (AS-IS) or by improving what is already being done to include some optimization of the process. Often, companies indicate that they have been digitized (understood as “Digitization”) justifying that they have reduced or eliminated almost 100% of the paper (digitally storing the information) and that instead of manual processes they have created models of processes represented digitally under BPMN notation – Business Process Model & Notation – which have even been able to automate paper-based manual processes to be executed with vertical applications that solve the task chain, or even have been able to opt (more successfully) to use a BPM: Workflow engine (Business Process Management) that manages the process to perform a complete orchestration of all process flows. This Digitization is a good starting point, but it is not a Process Digitalization nor a Digital Transformation.

• Process Digitalization: When digitalizing processes, it means that some digital technologies are being used in the processes and managing data digitally (digitized data and digitally native data), in order to convert processes (not simply digitization) into processes more efficient, more productive, more profitable and with greater customer satisfaction in their digital and physical experience with the company. Therefore, digitalization allows the use of digital information to optimize business results and create additional revenues, optimize costs, new customer experience… offering so much value when applying digital technologies.

• Digital Business Transformation: It is about doing things differently – creating new business designs by using digital technologies. It is not just about automating or inserting technology into an existing process (digitalization) to optimize the current value chain, but to go further, modifying the business model, changing the value chain and surely creating a new supply of products and services (caused by the application or incorporation of digital technologies in the products or services prior to the transformation), which lead to a new and better way to provide customer value. And they will require the modernization, rationalization and simplification of the current business processes, as well as the creation of the new key processes necessary for the new business reshaped.