For Westerman et. al, the digital transformation is “the use of technology to radically improve the performance or reach of enterprises”. This means using technological developments such as “analytics, mobility, social media, and smart embedded devices”, and also to improve the “use of traditional technologies such as ERP, to change customer relationships, internal processes, and value propositions” (Westerman et al, 2011).
In other words, digital transformation is a way of allowing the advantages of technology to change the entire behavior of the company in order to make it more effective, fast and trustworthy, and thus to deliver a service or product in lesser time and with higher quality. This process, which was seen at some point as a valuable option for organizations, is today an inevitable necessity in corporate development. Researcher Dobrica Savić states that “introducing mobile applications, artificial intelligence (Al), cloud computing, analytics, chatbots, and other digital services only augments the existing business without changing its essence” (Savić, 2019).
In his opinion, this is more of a digital business optimization than a digital transformation of a business. The real digital transformation changes completely the business model and forces an adaptation of the whole perspective from which the company is run.