Recently, a robust research effort was initiated to answer questions posed at a technical conference: “what does going digital mean?” and “what do you mean by digital?” The variety of answers received was interesting because they demonstrated different interpretations of the questions, as well as a real understanding of the term “digital.”

After discussions, reviews and observations of digital applications with beverage producers, equipment manufacturers and support service people, it became apparent that going digital meant whatever the individual interpreted it to mean. Therefore, the research effort concluded that to reasonably understand the digital syndrome, a basic and fundamental approach should be used to establish definition, application and answer the all-important question of why go digital?