Tarkvaralised

Tarkvaralised is a term used in Estonian information technology discourse to describe the process of transforming a product, service, or system from a hardware- or manually driven form into a software-based version. The aim is often to improve flexibility, scalability, and data-driven capabilities through software-defined functionality.

Etymology and usage: The word combines tarkvara (software) with -lised, a suffix indicating a state or characteristic, producing an adjective meaning softwareized. It appears in strategies, case studies, and academic writing addressing digital transformation and modernization projects.

Applications: In industry, tarkvaralised typically refers to replacing dedicated hardware controllers with software-defined equivalents running on general-purpose hardware or in the cloud. In public services, it describes digitization of processes and service delivery through software platforms. In product development, it denotes softwareization of features previously delivered as physical components or discrete systems, enabling updates via software and integration through APIs.

Benefits and challenges: Benefits include greater flexibility, easier updates, rapid deployment, and improved data integrated decision-making. Challenges include cybersecurity, interoperability between systems, governance and data privacy, initial migration costs, and the need for skilled software development and maintenance.

See also digital transformation, software engineering, platformization.