
Digitization
The term digitization generally refers to the changes in processes, objects and events that occur as the use of digital devices increases. In the original and narrower sense, this is the creation of digital representations of physical objects, events or analog media. In the broader and nowadays mostly more common sense, the term as a whole stands for the change towards digital processes by means of information and communication technology.
Different interpretations, aspects and emphases characterize the term and provide many interesting, informative and insightful contributions for DiALOG magazine.

From the emergency solution to the optimum for companies
The last year has changed a lot. The working world in particular had to rethink. Digitization experienced an enormous push, intentionally or unintentionally, and concepts such as the home office or mobile working moved into the focus of companies. "Stay at home" applied right at the beginning of the first lockdown and drove thousands of knowledge workers to work within their four walls at home, often without a concept.
And now? More than a year later?
The role of people in digital transformation
Mental strength shapes a person's personal potential - digital transformation supports him in this process
When everything is digitized and depersonalized, when more and more decisions and processes are automated - where do I find myself as a human being? How do I manage to develop as my very own personality and to work out my strengths - in view of the unrestrained development in the areas of technology, digitalization and a reality that is increasingly determined by apps, trackers and virtual (experience) life?


Dictatorship of digitalization
Freedom or Innovation: A Pessimist's Outlook
Recently, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) published only two months after discovery, the hacking actor Hafnium, which until a few days ago had infected almost 60,000 local Exchange server systems in Germany alone and shows: we are dependent and vulnerable.Almost at the same time, representatives* of the American start-up Clearview AI were criticized for facial recognition software that creates a so-called "faceprint" based on publicly available photos on Facebook, Twitter, Google and Co.

Came to stay
Digital marketing and sales processes
Sometimes change comes faster than you'd like. The Corona pandemic, at the latest, has shown this, banishing the majority of communication to the Internet. The result? - A complete transformation of many sales and marketing processes and a triumph of the digital world. And this will not be a short-term thing. Already, 20-30% of customers in the B2B sector are ready to return to non-digital after the crisis.Recently, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) published only two months after discovery, the hacking actor Hafnium, which until a few days ago, almost 60. At almost the same time, representatives* of the American start-up Clearview AI were criticized for facial recognition software that uses publicly available photos on Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. to create a so-called "faceprint.

All web or what?
How web technologies are permeating enterprise IT
Yes, there was a time: The time before the Web. Really, really before. Back when everything was better and IT was still electronic data processing. And when midrange computing was translated as medium data technology. And software development was complex and expensive. In the mid-90s, the era of client/server computing was proclaimed. A completely new concept was to conquer the IT world and decentralize the infrastructure. Bill Gates showed the world in 1994 in his Comdex keynote how he thought the world would look like in 2005. But wait! There was a small insignificant event before that.
New work needs new mentality!
Why it's more important to focus on results instead of sticking to a home office presence requirement.
It was foreseeable for a long time that the digital office would become an existentially important factor in the modern working world. But the fact that a worldwide pandemic would trigger a boom in new, flexible forms of work probably surprised most of us. With video meetings, virtual events and working from home, many companies had to establish new digital ways of working and communicating ad hoc in the spring of 2020.


Digitization - dancing around the golden calf?
A central answer to Corona is: We need to digitize work, health, and indeed our entire lives even faster and more deeply. Ideally, we will project our analog world onto a digital surface in the future, where we can process it more effectively. For example, some companies have already created digital twins that represent their material form in binary form. With their Destination Earth project, European scientists are currently digitally mapping the earth to simulate climate change. The triumph of all-encompassing digitization, it seems, can no longer be stopped. True to the catchy slogan of a political party from the last federal election campaign: Digitization first. Concerns second.

The administration as a pioneer
Digital identity management with the help of self-sovereign identities
Identity management is becoming increasingly important in the age of digitization due to the sharp rise in the number of digital interactions. Physical credentials such as ID cards or driver's licenses are difficult to transfer to the digital world. Nevertheless, it is important to transfer them to a digital identity management system.

Consulting for digitization redefined
10 years ago, the phrase "consulting is people business" applied. To a large extent, it depended on the appearance and personality of the consultant. Although solutions were based as far as possible on standard applications, in the end a great deal was customized. After all, the principle applied that IT support had to be adapted to the individual processes and not vice versa. Since then, the digitization of processes in companies and organizations has gained significant momentum.
...and suddenly everything went digital
How the move from face-to-face events to the virtual world succeeds.
Lockdown, contact restrictions, homeschooling - Corona fundamentally changed our everyday lives in one fell swoop. From one day to the next, there was also an acceptance of digital communication instead of physical presence. The changeover was not just a question of technology and tools. In order to maintain the dialog with employees, customers and partners, organizational, legal and social framework conditions must be taken into account, demand-oriented formats defined and efficient implementation ensured.
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Bits and bites eat common sense
Digitization and common sense don't go together
Watch out for satire. When DiALOG magazine came into the world 10 years ago, everything was still fine - almost. Digitization was then seen as the gravedigger of the real world, as a Stern article headlined in January 2011 (02.01.2011): Ten things that will (almost) become extinct in 2011. These should include postcards, paper photos, alarm clocks and flesh-and-blood friends. All still there. But there is one thing that digitization has indeed almost completely killed off: common sense - in German: Gesunder Menschenverstand or short GMV.
Let's talk about "C"
No, not about the "C" in "Corona", which now, in spring 2021, after more than a year, still - as it seems - holds us captive. We really can't hear it anymore and wish that "it's over now". I, too, wish for a shared experience and personal meeting in Leipzig at the "DiALOG 2021 - Expert Forum for Digital Transformation".


Acting future-proof
Compliance in digitalization
Our world is continuously changing. From time to time, this change is so great that it permanently shakes existing structures and processes, and then we speak of a revolution, such as the "Industrial Revolution". This process does not happen overnight, but rather sends its harbingers, only to progress ever faster and more incisively. With digitization, we are once again in such a situation.
Plattform praktisch & digital
Was macht die TQG businessApp platform besonders? Woher stammt der smartKnight? Hier erfahren Sie es...
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Ambassador for the new age of digital challenges
Prof. Dr. Katrin Klodt-Bußmann, Dean of Business Law at HTWG Konstanz, is an ambassador and convinced trendsetter for the "new" age of digital challenges. She questions, sets accents and consciously approaches the subject with new methods. Many reasons to talk shop with her about Enterprise Information Management. In doing so, she has the designers of tomorrow virtually in her daily environment in her faculty, she advises companies among other things with her expertise for the challenges of the legal tech design of everyday life and passes on her knowledge in various organizations. Whether vocation, honorary position or family - everywhere in action, we would like to learn more about it.
Fit for the digital future?
Managing documents and information digitally has long been part of everyday life at many organizations. But with increasing digitization, the demands on the systems are also growing. Reason enough for the NOVELLUS Group to put its enterprise content management (ECM) system, and contract management in particular, on a future-proof footing.


Planning is half the meeting
Spending less and more effective time in meetings is easily possible digitally: Via online meeting software, participants access all relevant information and documents and can also incorporate agreements and decision paths from past meetings into the current decision-making process.
Service Excellence
Only the comprehensive service concept ensures the survival of the owner-managed, medium-sized family business Hans Lutz Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co.KG, or LUTZ-Aufzüge for short, in a highly competitive market. Service 2.0" marked the beginning of the digital strategy of the company, which says of itself: "Elevators are our life. We deliver solutions for construction, sales, installation, repair, modernization of elevator systems. Since 1927."


Will blockchain change the world?
In den letzten Jahren tauchte der Begriff Blockchain vielfach in den Schlagzeilen auf. Die Technologie ermöglicht ein globales Register, das Besitzverhältnisse unmissverständlich zuordnet und mit dessen Hilfe Werte bei Bedarf sekundenschnell transferiert werden können. Blockchain funktioniert dabei ohne Zwischeninstanzen wie Staaten oder Banken, da das Netzwerk auf einer hohen Zahl von Computern dezentral organisiert werden kann und somit praktisch unveränderbar ist. Nicht wenige Experten gehen davon aus, dass Blockchain bestehende Geschäftsmodelle ganzer Branchen revolutionieren und vielleicht sogar die Welt verändern könnte.
Digitization meets emotionalization
When did this happen? When did you stop caring about someone, taking time and leisure? If you take a look at a modern office, you can quickly see it. It's because we all, simply have far too much on our desks. In the course of digitalization, we receive more e-mails per minute than we can process. Everything is done via digital platforms, where tasks are clarified and distributed. The daily meeting is held via Skype. In fact, no one has to leave their office to communicate anymore.


Innovation in 360-degree customer communications
True use of chatbots and AI in the financial services industry
As part of the digitization of business processes and the modernization of corporate communications, companies must decide what their focus should be: The use of video platforms, but also voice and software robots with and without artificial intelligence are available as options. So what is the technology of choice and how do you get there together with people?
Two is better than one
The digital twin in Industry 4.0 is one of the hottest topics in the industry at the moment, and in many cases it is still uncharted territory for the companies that use it. It is a digital representation of a product that mirrors its real counterpart. In short, the digital twin is the link between the digital and real worlds.


Making the coal glow
How Fire&Food has expanded its digital publishing business
The publishing business, it is not new, has been presented with a major challenge by digitization. The classic business model, geared purely to subscription customers, has to rethink, because more flexible and individualized offerings are increasingly in demand from customers. But how do publishers know what their customers want from them? Or even more, who their customers actually are?
Fast money through paper renunciation
DiALOG-Award Awardee 2018: WWK
Monday, 09.15 in the office of a major loss adjuster. Our lawyer is asking for urgent information on filing a brief with the court, the deadline for which is in a few days. A look at the claims file would suffice - but unfortunately it is "out of print". What now?


Just say it: plain language for customers
DiALOG-Award Awardee 2018: Vodafone Deutschland
Summer 2014. A hot day. The room at the Vodafone campus is well filled. There is a whiteboard in the middle - still completely empty. We talk about communication: How do we write and talk to our customers? How can we make our processes even better? How can we remain comprehensible and be perceived even more strongly as the Vodafone brand? At the end of the day, the whiteboard is full. And we see a lot of potential: our communication still has room for improvement. We need to strengthen brand recognition through language. We need clear acceptance processes for texts and text quality.
Customer loyalty via video?
DiALOG-Award Winner 2018: Allianz Global Digital Factory
How does a customer reach his insurance company today? By phone via cell phone or via an app. At Allianz, the customer has the option of downloading the "My-Mobility" app and thus has relevant information, service offers and direct contact with the customer advisor in their pocket in the event of an incident on the road. With the app, the customer always has their personal "motor insurance data" with them, has an emergency contact and can report damage quickly and easily.


Heidelberg goes Digital
Shaping the future of the print media industry
A global economic trend we can observe today is that companies in a wide variety of industries that were founded in the pre-digital age are now driving the rise of the digital economy of things. At their core, these companies are transforming their original analog business model into a digital business.
Blockchain - innovation engine for the future
The terms digitalization and Industry 4.0 have now arrived in society. A completely new technology, blockchain, is also on everyone's lips and is about to fundamentally roll up the market. Experts are even talking about a revolution comparable to the one once brought about by the Internet. Especially in the financial sector, the database technology has already been hyped in the form of the Bitcoin network, but what is behind it?


Simply Work Differently
Work, communication and companies in transition
With technological change and the innovations it brings, where is transforming how and even where we work. At the heart of these changes is not just the physical workplace, but also the tools we use and the strategy we adopt to deal with the challenges of daily work.
The digital marketplaces of today
Already firmly established in the B2C sector with ebay, Uber and Co., platform-based business models are becoming increasingly interesting for B2B companies. They enable them to expand their range of products and services on a digital level as well as strong networking within the entire value chain. The technological basis for this is holistic Enterprise Information Management (EIM).


DSGVO - Respectful handling or scaremongering
How sustainability, transparency and commitment can be lived in practice
On 25.05.2018, the new EU Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) came into force. Hundreds of articles have already been written about it. Everyone is talking about it, some have already taken action, others are letting it slide. Rarely has the pressure of the threat of fines been formulated so early and clearly, and it affects companies and private individuals. There is a fine line between respectful behavior and the associated action on the one hand and perceived scaremongering on the other.
Generation change
The first generations, who have grown up with smartphones, tablets and an always-available Internet, are now coming of age, creating a generational shift to which companies must respond, regardless of their industry. This generational shift will also bring a change in consumer behavior. The availability of services, independent of time and space, will be a prerequisite for future business.


Shaping the digital transformation
Information management as a success factor
"Digitalization is in full swing", this or similar sentences can be found in every magazine and in countless places on the Internet. One could get the impression that we (people) will soon be "digitized" as well. It can't take much longer.
Digital doesn't matter!
People remain people - leadership decides
Is leadership still in demand in the digital world? This question is currently the subject of lively debate in connection with the digital transformation of companies. This is unsettling many managers. But don't panic! Leadership is more important than ever in the digital age.


Safety measures for sustainable production
Security in the age of Industry 4.0
In the course of Industry 4.0, production is becoming increasingly automated and part of networked IT. Increasing networking does offer many advantages, such as more flexibility, individualized products and the opportunity to conquer new markets. But at the same time, it increases the risk for companies to fall victim to an external hacker attack. Attackers use vulnerabilities to find their way through the network to production. Companies must therefore ensure that their production is secured against unwanted access. In doing so, they should be guided by measures from IT security and adapt these to their production strategy.
Do chatbots dream of electronic sheep?
How AI is moving into EIM and what we need to consider.
ChatBots for customer communication, AI for selectrion, recognition and structuring of large amounts of data and autonomous airplanes, vehicles and robots. IoT, networking and cloud, these are the topics of information management in the here and now.


Digitalization is turning everything upside down
In an interview with DiALOG Magazin, Marie-Alix Freifrau Ebner von Eschenbach, Managing Director of the Bundesverband der Unternehmensjuristen e.V. (BUJ), talks about the opportunities of digitalization, the possibilities of LegalTech products and the role of the BUJ.
First steps towards transformation
Gaining experience with a pilot projectThe term "digitization" and the related formula of digital transformation have been booming in the media for some time now. While many SMEs consider the topic to be very important, only a few are planning concrete digitization projects - let alone implementing them.
A focused start with a smaller pilot project is an important step towards success in digital transformation, says Michael Thiess, objective partner AG in his article.


The pillars of the New Way of Working
Für Unternehmen ist die Digitalisierung auch 2017 ein durchaus umstrittenes Thema, wie Jos Bischoff von der BCT Deutschland GmbH in seinem Beitrag erläutert. Doch gerade junge Unternehmen nutzen ihre Möglichkeiten für disruptive Geschäftsmodelle, in dem sie die neuen Bedarfe ihrer Kunden, Lieferanten und Partner in den Fokus ihrer Dienstleistungen stellen. Folglich beeinflussen die veränderten Ansprüche auf Individualität, Mobilität und Vernetzung aber auch die interne Arbeitsumgebung - räumlich, technisch und organisatorisch.

Digital transformation in healthcare
Automating purchase-to-pay management with the EIM information hub in the pharmacy and central purchasing departments of the St. Elisabeth Group.
The hospital market is characterized by mergers and growth. This has an impact on procurement management, which has to budget with existing human resources.

Social media - all well and good - but where are the people?
Freundschaftsanfragen, Kontaktanfragen, Linkempfehlungen, Statusmeldungen, Gruppeneinladungen, Bild-Uploads, Videos usw. usf. - worauf reagieren SIE? Und von wem muss es kommen, damit SIE reagieren? Der Xing-Experte und Vernetzungsprofi Joachim Rumohr beleuchtet in diesem Artikel einen aus seiner Sicht grundsätzlichen Fehler bei der Nutzung von Social Media.
Smart - in the thick of IT, instead of just DIGITAL
or: The dream of a business app store is coming true!
Agile and digital working will challenge us humans even more than previously thought, regardless of whether we are "digital immigrants" or "digital natives". Being "digital" is IN, being there is everything, because we have a smartphone. Printing, faxing, scanning, filing, talking, meeting was yesterday. Today we are mobile, digital, virtual and we are in the chat room, ready for social media and around the clock. Anyone?


No digital transformation without cultural change
Digital transformation live and in color
For companies, digitizing their products and services is the central key to their future viability. That's why many market players are digitally upgrading their technological landscapes. But the breeding ground for innovation is not technology. Rather, corporate culture forms the basis for a successful transformation.
This is the approach taken by Frank Schabel, Head of Marketing/Corporate Communications at Hays AG, in his article.
Change begins in the mind
Digital transformation: people, motivation, methodology
"We are becoming increasingly aware that the most important questions are not technical but human questions," wrote legendary management pioneer Peter Drucker back in 1967. Today, as we experience digital transformation firsthand, a number of questions can be derived from this admonition that companies must ask themselves with a view to digital transformation. In conversation about this with Steffen Schaar, The Quality Group.


Take users along without overburdening them
Digitization of invoice receipt processing
Innovations and changes in working methods are a challenge. For a successful and lasting project, it is important to perceive and take into account different requirements and also fears. Björn Hofman from the Versorgungswerk der Rechtsanwälte im Land Hessen reports on the digitization of incoming invoice processing, taking into account technical, organizational, legal and social aspects.
With EIM to smart administration
More and more public authorities are offering their citizens digitized services. In the Dutch municipality of Zuidplas, for example, a process-based information management system ensures efficient and effective collaboration and greater transparency in processes.


The new industrial revolution
Der Begriff Industrie 4.0 ist derzeit in aller Munde. Dabei handelt es sich um ein Synonym für die "vierte industrielle Revolution", das für die Informatisierung der Gesellschaft steht. Ralf Vinzenz Bitte, Leiter Enterprise Integration Center des FIR e.V. an der RWTH Aachen schildert in seinem Beitrag Veränderung des Produktionsweges und den dadurch entstehenden Möglichkeiten der Vernetzung und Steuerung, die zu einer Veränderung der Produktionsprozesse und Netzwerke führen und die produzierende Wirtschaft nachhaltig revolutionieren werden.
Process safety as the basis for Industry 4.0
Jürgen Huhle from AristaFlow GmbH describes in his contribution that the required and also desired digitalization on the one hand necessitates increasing flexibility and automation, but on the other hand also means a significant increase in complexity.


The remeasurement of the economy
Digitization - what goes, what comes?
While the past 50 years have been characterized by process innovations in companies, innovative business models and customer-oriented services will become the key competitive factor in the future. Digitalization, its conditions and its consequences - an outlook by Jacques Ziegler.