While it may seem like a recent development, 转换模拟或物理过程和文档的趋势已经持续了几十年. 数字化基本上始于20世纪50年代计算机的出现. Since then, 数字化的不断发展几乎把所有东西都变成了对电脑友好的1和0，并改变了我们的工作方式, communicate, shop, bank, and even how we relax and entertain ourselves.
以下是数字化历史上的一些重要里程碑.
1956 - IBM通过305 RAMAC和650 RAMAC(随机存取存储器计数)将磁盘和随机存取数据引入商业世界。, first used in United Airlines’ reservation system. Each incorporated the 350 Disk Storage Unit, 它重达1吨，总容量为5兆字节——这大约相当于一辆三菱幻影和一个4x3英寸的高清图像文件.
IBM’s press release announcing the RAMAC claimed that, “业务交易将在发生后立即被完全处理.”1这体现了数字化的价值，过去是，现在仍然是，更快，更有效的处理.
1960 - Not to be outdone by their competitor, 美国航空公司于1960年推出了Sabre航班预订系统, which processed 84,每天000个电话，并存储了807兆字节的预订, flight schedules, and seat inventory.2
1968 - U.S. libraries began using Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) records. 最初的MARC试点项目是由国会图书馆进行的，涉及大约16年的编目数据转换,000个标题转换成机读磁带，便于分发. By the end of June of 1968, around 50,已分发了000份记录，用于制作图书目录, catalog cards, and other library tools.3
1968 而“自动提款机”(atm机的早期前身)早在近十年前就在伦敦推出了, 数字技术的发展使得瑞典的储蓄银行在1968年开始测试联网的自动提款机. 与银行计算机和数字化文件的连接提供了更完整的用户体验, 因为他们现在也可以在不与出纳员互动的情况下检查他们的账户余额并提取不同的金额.4
1971 - Long before the popularization of eReaders and eBooks, 古登堡计划的目标是让所有人都能以电子方式获得无版权的作品. The project’s founder entered the text of the U.S. 将《云顶集团》装入伊利诺伊大学的计算机主机, 开启了文档数字化的趋势，这种趋势一直持续到今天(有一些关键的进步).5
1979 联邦快递推出客户、运营和服务主在线系统. “COSMOS” digitized the management of people, packages, vehicles, and weather scenarios in real time, allowing unprecedented updates on delivery status.6
1984 美国人口普查局首次询问受访者在家中使用电脑的情况. At the time, 8% of all U.S. households owned a personal computer. By 2016, 89%的美国家庭拥有电脑(包括智能手机), and 81% had a broadband Internet connection.7
1991 - The first 2G cellular network was launched in Finland.8通过在移动电话和手机信号塔之间使用数字信号而不是模拟信号传输, 2G网络增加了系统容量，并引入了(当时)革命性的数据服务，如短信, 在接下来的几十年里，哪种通信方式会成为最主要的通信方式之一.
1994 - In possibly the first ecommerce transaction ever, a large pepperoni, mushroom, and extra cheese pizza was ordered online from Pizza Hut.9
2003 - For the first time, 电子支付超过现金和支票，成为美国消费者首选的支付方式.10借记卡作为一种支付方式的日益普及推动了这一趋势.
2004 Exela Technologies发布DocuScan企业扫描仪的第一个版本, used to digitize documents and paper checks. DocuScan演变成IntelliScan系列扫描仪，包括集成光学字符识别技术和智能数据提取软件. IntelliScan是目前世界上最快的扫描平台之一.
2012 - Nearly 20 years after that large pizza was sold via the Internet, 全球电子商务年销售额首次突破1万亿美元.11
2014 - The number of Internet users worldwide reached 3 billion.12
2020 - Mastercard and Exela partnered to launch a Request-to-Pay solution, which became the first of its kind enrolled with Pay.UK. 这项技术可以通过安全的网络为付款人和付款人提供更大的通信和灵活性, unified messaging service.13
数字化转型一直是塑造现代时代的最持久、最显著的大规模趋势之一，而且没有任何放缓的迹象. Recent advances in OCR, ICR, 机器学习技术使得将纸质文档转换为完全数字化的资产比以往任何时候都更快、更容易，准确性也在不断提高. The development of real-time payment options is set to revolutionize peer-to-peer transactions. 无数其他的进步将继续扩大我们的数字能力.
- http://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_350.html
- http://www.sabre.com/files/Sabre-History.pdf
- http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED029663
- http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/a-brief-history-of-the-atm/388547/
- http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:About
- http://mip.pmi.org/cosmos
- http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/acs/ACS-39.pdf
- http://whatsag.com/mobile-technology/the-history-of-2g.php
- http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230620
- http://www.atmmarketplace.com/news/electronic-payments-surpass-cash-checks/
- http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Ecommerce-Sales-Topped-1-Trillion-First-Time-2012/1009649
- http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
- http://www.semadanisik.com/press-release/mastercard-request-pay-solution-powered-exela-software-receives-enrollment
