Abstract

With rapid technological advancements in multiple spheres of information and communication technologies (ICT), the first decades of the twenty-first century mark a steady move towards the peak of digital transformation. Adoption of relevant ICT had already become a requirement in most business contexts in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Yet, what we observe in twenty-first century business environments is qualitatively different. Rather than supporting existing business practices, for example, substituting for human labour in well-defined, repetitive business processes, digital technologies are at the centre of business ideas, and they shape the fundamental logic of business organisations. In many academic and practice-based discourses, these changes lead to the conceptualisation of digital businesses at the organisation level, digital ecosystems at meso level, and digital transformation as both an evolutionary and revolutionary process, experienced by business organisations as well as society at large. Under the continuous threat of new and technologically competitive entries, many existing business organisations evolve into digital businesses, acquiring new assets, resources and capabilities and transforming their products, services, processes, and business models. In this context, digital business is a broad concept that encompasses a wide range of transformations in the way businesspeople think, work and business organisations create value for their stakeholders. This short chapter presents a comprehensive overview of digital business. It explores the core pillars of digital business, the technologies used by digital businesses, and main concerns and challenges for future transformations. These dimensions of digital business are also used to develop a conceptual model that captures the big picture of digital business, which can inform future work including academic and practice-based investigations.