Digitalization

Digitalization – articles exploring how digital technologies have transformed businesses, customers, markets, ways of working, and value creation.

Watercolor from London illustrating the e-commerce value chain from online ordering and warehousing to packaging, distribution and delivery, with digital customer data and logistics as central parts of the digital economy.

Part 5 – E-commerce and the digital economy

E-commerce and the digital economy: from online shops and Amazon to marketplaces, the Long Tail, the platform economy, customer data and new forms of value creation.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2332 min read

Watercolor of a customer in Oslo using a mobile phone at a physical store. The image illustrates how unified commerce connects digital and physical commerce so that the customer can move seamlessly between online, mobile and store.

Part 4 – From multichannel to unified commerce

From multichannel to unified commerce: Discover how physical and digital retail are converging to create a more seamless e-commerce customer experience.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2028 min read

Watercolor painting from Paris of a customer using mobile and laptop for digital commerce, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The image illustrates how e-commerce platform, product information and digital touchpoints form the visible part of modern e-commerce.

Part 3 – The technology behind modern e-commerce

What happens behind modern e-commerce? Explore how platforms, payments, data, inventory, logistics, and integrations work together to create customer experiences and value.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2028 min read

Watercolor of a customer in Milan using a mobile phone and laptop to search for and compare products. The image illustrates how search, information, and digital touchpoints influence customer pre-purchase considerations in modern e-commerce.

Part 2 – The Customer and E-Commerce

How do search, information, trust, and friction influence purchasing decisions? Explore what creates great e-commerce customer experiences in 2026.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2026 min read

Watercolor painting of a customer sitting in a cafe in Florence with a laptop, browsing products in an online store, with the city’s historic urban environment in the background. The image illustrates the beginning of the modern e-commerce journey, where the customer seeks information, considers options, and moves into a digital purchasing process.

Part 1 – What is e-commerce in 2026?

What is e-commerce in 2026? Explore how customer experience, data, logistics, physical retail, and AI are shaping modern e-commerce and value creation.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2028 min read

Watercolor with digital everyday situations in San Francisco, Lisbon and Rome illustrating the development from PC, internet and World Wide Web to global digitization, digital services and an interconnected world.

Part 2 - From PC to World Wide Web

From the PC to the World Wide Web: how computers, the internet, and the web created the infrastructure for digitalization, e-commerce, and today’s digital economy.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2025 min read

E-commerce in 2026

What is e-commerce in 2026? Explore how customer experience, technology, logistics, omnichannel, and AI are shaping modern commerce and creating new value.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2021 min read

Watercolor from Naples where people use generative AI on a computer, illustrating the shift from traditional information search to AI-generated answers and dialogue.

Part 14 – From Digital First to AI First

From Digital First to AI First: how generative AI, AI Search, and digital agents can transform customers, organizations, and the future of value creation.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2029 min read

Collection watercolor from Bologna illustrating digital transformation through strategy, customer orientation, data, technology, organization, competence, collaboration and continuous learning.

Part 13 – Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is more than technology. See how strategy, organization, culture, skills, and ways of working change as digitalization becomes continuous.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2026 min read

Collection watercolor that illustrates strategic customer focus through customer choice, digital comparison, customer reviews, customer journey and employees' work to create value for the customer.

Part 12 – When customer focus became a strategic necessity

The customer is the market’s real boss. See how search, transparency, customer reviews, and increased competition made customer focus a strategic necessity.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2027 min read

Collective watercolor from Berlin illustrating cloud computing, SaaS, APIs, analytics, data, personalization and digital platforms as infrastructure for modern digital ecosystems.

Part 11 – Cloud, data and platforms

From cloud and SaaS to APIs, data, and platforms—how digital infrastructure created new ecosystems, personalization, and the foundation for today’s AI.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2026 min read

Collection watercolor from Amsterdam illustrating the development from multichannel to omnichannel, with online shopping, mobile, physical store, Click & Collect, personal advice and returns as parts of one continuous customer journey.

Part 10 – From multichannel to omnichannel

From multichannel to omnichannel: how web, mobile, stores, and customer service connect to create one seamless journey across digital and physical channels.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2027 min read

Collection watercolor from Pisa illustrating Mobile First and the role of smartphones in digital service development through responsive design, apps, location services, navigation, mobile payment and services adapted to the user's situation.

Part 9 – Mobile First

From smartphones and Mobile First to responsive design, apps, location, and mobile payments—how mobile transformed digital services and the customer journey.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2027 min read

Collection watercolor from Milan illustrating how social media gave the customer a public voice through digital networks, user-generated content, customer reviews, influencers, and public customer dialogue between people and businesses.

Part 8 – Social – the customer gets a public vote

Social media gave customers a public voice. See how networks, reviews, user-generated content, and algorithms changed the balance of power between customers and businesses.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2022 min read

Collection watercolor illustrating the development from digital search and user behavior to usability, user testing, information architecture and UX, and further to a holistic digital and physical customer experience.

Part 7 – From usability to UX

From HCI and usability to information architecture and UX: how human needs, usability, and design became essential to successful digital services.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2028 min read

Watercolor from San Francisco with a person searching for travel information on Google, illustrating search intent and how search engines changed digital marketing and the customer's path to information.

Part 4 - Internet Marketing

Internet marketing transformed marketing through email, advertising, CRM, measurement, and customer insights—from mass communication to digital dialogue.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2031 min read

Watercolor with digital situations at famous places in Paris that illustrate the development from the first websites to digital services, self-service and new digital contact surfaces between businesses and users.

Part 3 – When business went online

Fra de første nettstedene til digitale tjenester og selvbetjening: hvordan weben endret virksomheter, kunder, arbeidsprosesser og digital verdiskaping.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2028 min read

Watercolor with digital work situations from Budapest, Amsterdam and Tokyo illustrating digitalization, digital processes and digital transformation in businesses and modern societies.

Part 1 - What is digitalization?

What is digitalization? Learn the difference between digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation, and how technology changes organizations and value creation.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2025 min read

Watercolor in four scenes illustrating the development of digital search: search engine and search results in London, product search and online shopping, search for research information in Oxford, and use of ChatGPT to find knowledge about a historic FM engine from Fredrikstad Motorverksted.

Part 6 – Search and the struggle to be found

Search engines changed the balance of information power. From Google, SEO, and SEM to product search, customer reviews, and AI—the story of the battle to be found.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2027 min read

Watercolor from San Francisco of a customer using mobile and laptop for AI-assisted online shopping. The image illustrates how e-commerce is moving from traditional product search to conversations where artificial intelligence helps the customer understand needs and find relevant products.

Part 5 – AI is changing e-commerce

How is AI changing e-commerce? Explore smarter search, recommendations, shopping assistants, and agentic commerce—and what they mean for customers.

Magne Bjella

Sep 2029 min read