D IGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND RELATED CONCEPTS

Bharadwaj, Sawy, Pavlou and Venkatraman (2013) viewed digital technology as “combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies” (p.1). Digitalization, digital innovation and digital transformation are concepts that build on digital technology (Osmundsen, Iden & Bygstad, 2018a). Digital technology can be characterized as what Bygstad (2017) refers to as lightweight IT. This is in contrast to heavyweight IT, which includes the mainstream IT as currently delivered by IT departments over the world. Like back-end solutions such as enterprise resource planning- and other transaction systems (Stople, Steinsrud, Iden & Bygstad, 2017). Lightweight IT may be seen as complementary to heavyweight IT. It is well suited for tasks that heavyweight IT often has failed to support. Lightweight IT typically supports work processes with simple applications and the immediate needs of the user, (Bygstad, 2017).

One of the advantages of lightweight IT is that it is easier to change and customize to the end-user compared to heavyweight IT. Bygstad (2017) also pointed out that innovation occurs more easily with lightweight IT. The rapid pace of development and application of digital technology is reflected in that only a decade ago, companies focused mainly on heavyweight IT (Bygstad, 2017) like enterprise resource planning- and customer relationship management systems. Today, the focus is directed towards lightweight IT and phenomena such as smartphones, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, robotic process automation and data analytics (Puthiyamadam, 2017). Another example of lightweight IT that has grown

big the last few years is low-code technology. Applying low-code to develop an EHR represents a form of digitalization. Hence, in the following, we will discuss the term more thoroughly. Although digitalization is most relevant for our thesis, we will also in short discuss the interconnected terms digital innovation and digital transformation, as low-code development of an EHR can be considered a part of the ongoing innovation and transformation in the healthcare sector.

2.1.1 Digitalization

The concept of digitalization is being used in ever-increasing contexts, from everyday conversations and newspaper articles to important discussions among politicians and top executives in leading organizations. Digitalization has gained increased interest among practitioners and scholars since the emergence of the Internet around the year 2000. Existing literature does not give a clear definition of digitalization. The term is used differently by scholars, companies and consultancy firms. Zott and Amit (2018) explained that digitalization is a new form of value creation and that it is a transformation process from analogue to digital. Bleicher and Stanley (2016) explained digitalization as a process of “[…] converting data from an analogue to a digital format” (p. 63). These definitions do not create an understanding of what the process from analogue to digital actually implies.

Ross (2017) described digitalization in a business context as standardizing processes that have previously been carried out by individuals. McKinsey (2014) described digitalization as reinventing entire business processes by cutting the number of steps required, reducing the number of documents and developing automated decision making. Furthermore, it implies redesigning the organizational structure, roles, skills, and operating models to match the reinvented processes (McKinsey, 2014). Hageberg (2016) wrote that “Digitalization is one of the most significant on-going transformations of contemporary society and encompasses many elements of business and everyday life” (p. 694). Companies should understand the concept and how it impacts their business model. According to Zott and Amit (2017), digitalization has emerged hand in hand with product innovation. Digitalization brings new value creation opportunities for companies, through new markets, services and applications.

In a literature study conducted by Osmundsen, Iden, and Bygstad (2018b), digitalization is defined as "The process of using digital technology to alter one or more socio-technical structures" (p.5).

As the preceding presentation of definitions illustrated, there are several different understandings of what digitalization actually implies. In our thesis, we have followed the definition of digitalization as presented by Osmundsen and colleagues (2018b), in that digitalization implies applying digital technology to alter one or many socio-technical structures. By this, we understood digitalization as more than merely a technical process, as it also involves and affects social aspects such as roles, relationships, and ways of working.

2.1.2 Digital innovation

Another concept building on digital technology is digital innovation. Osmundsen et al.

(2018b), discussed digital innovation to address products and services. They found that digital innovation is about digital technology as well as new combinations of physical and digital components. The result of digital innovation is understood as new for the market or the adopter (Osmundsen et al., 2018b). Therefore, Osmundsen et al., (2018b) defined digital innovation as “A new product or service that creates new value for adopters has been developed by combining digital technology in new ways or with physical components” (p.7).

2.1.3 Digital transformation

As mentioned, digital transformation is a concept that is built on digital technology. A common form of digital transformation is to utilize digital technology to enable a new improvement in a company. Osmundsen et al. (2018a) have defined digital transformation as “When digitalization and digital innovation are used over time to enable significant changes in the way we work, leading to significant transformation of an organization or an entire industry” (p.2). Digital transformation can create unique changes in an organization where value creation, business process and operation can change (Libert, Beck & Wind, 2016). Low-code is seen as an enabler for digital transformation (Pega, 2019).