Before embarking on a DT, all involved need to understand what it is—and what it isn’t—and be familiar with the process’ basic premises. This is easier said than done: a simple Google search for the term “digital transformation” yields more than 100 million hits (in 0.55 seconds) and a flood of complex technical terms.

The objective of DT is to get the right information to the right people at the right time so they can take action. That is what makes it indispensable to the health sector, where it can mean the difference between life and death.

To understand DT, it is important to differentiate three easily confused concepts:

• Digitalization is the process of transferring information in analog (tangible, physical) format to digital format using digital tools (like a scanner or cell phone) so it can be processed, stored, and shared on digital circuits, computers, and networks (like a server or online cloud).
• Information technology (IT), is the set of tools needed for digitization (including hardware and software).
• Digital transformation (DT) is how technology changes the rules of engagement, ways of working and interacting, and mindset of an organization or sector. Digital transformation has three equally important components: people, processes, and technology..¹

Two everyday examples illustrate these concepts. The first is Amazon. The company digitally transformed commerce by allowing consumers to buy products on their cell phones and have them delivered to their door in 24 hours. Amazon uses digitalized information and IT tools, but what revolutionized customers’ shopping experience is how Amazon does business with retailers, as well as its logistics. Similarly, the airline industry used technological tools to digitalize flight and passenger information, but the transformation lay in how travelers interact with airlines, how airports operate, and how airlines interact with each other.

In the health sector, for example, IT alone will not improve efficiency or administration or reduce hazardous conditions or medical errors. Although technology makes these changes possible, a DT will not succeed unless healthcare processes are redesigned.

Each country must therefore make its digital decisions based on its national health needs and objectives. This ensures that the tools added resolve the most urgent healthcare and public health problems. To do otherwise would mean starting from the solution instead of the problem and adding to the cost of ineffective processes.