If there is one word that describes today’s world then perhaps it is the word “digital.” Everything is somehow digital or influenced by the digital. And if there is one concept that explains what digital means, it is “transformation,” since the digital changes everything. But what is digital transformation? Here again, I offer one word that could summarize (almost) everything that can be understood in terms of digital transformation: “datafication.”

Datafication has to do with data. This is obvious. However important data may be, what is more important is what is done with the data, the ways in which the data is handled. This can be called analytics. This sounds a lot like big data analytics or business analytics, and datafication is indeed related to these practices. But the idea behind datafication goes further and encompasses more than big data or business analytics. Interestingly, the idea behind datafication is not new and not even originally digital. When NASA built its space capsules, they did not just build one, but always two. One they sent into space and the other stayed on earth. The idea was that when a problem occurred in space, engineers on earth could attempt to replicate the problem with the model and after finding the best solution, tell the astronauts what they should do. This makes sense, since in space there was not an extensive team of experts nor opportunities available to try this or that solution to see what happens.