EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING, FINANCE & BUSINESS Volume 10 / 2022 ISSN 2344-102X Issue 1 / February 2022 ISSN-L 2344-102X DOI: 10.4316/EJAFB.2022.10118 135 Cristina Gabriela COSMULESE Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229, Romania gabriela.cosmulese@usm.ro Abstract Digital transformation is a radical change that involves integrating technology and digitalization models into all aspects of business, leading to substantial changes in corporate culture - the way companies and their employees operate. The paper aims to analyse the phenomenon of Smart Working and digital transformation from the perspective of technologies that have enabled employees to continue working remotely during Covid-19. In order to achieve this goal, the following objectives have been defined: 1) to present the topic of digital transformation, with a particular focus on the new technologies that enable this revolution, such as Big Data and Analytics, Cloud Computing, cybersecurity or the Industrial Internet of Things; 2) to explain how digital transformation leads to the transformation of the world of work through the introduction in companies of the technologies mentioned in the first objective; 3) to analyze the concept of Smart Working, differentiating it in particular from the closely related notions of flexible working, remote working and teleworking. Keywords: digital transformation; smart working; big data; cloud computing; external drivers JEL Classification: O33 I. INTRODUCTION Addressing Smart Working and its effectiveness in times of crisis, such as that generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, requires first of all identifying the technological robustness of the company and the environment on which remote production action must be based. To this end, it is, therefore, necessary first to assess the company's technological position with regard to digital transformation. The current health crisis has forced many companies to accelerate their "digital transformation" plans or, in some cases, create them from scratch, in order to adapt and react to the new situation and, in particular, to the new way of working. Virtual meetings via videoconferencing, online document exchange and electronic procedures have become commonplace activities for many companies of different sizes. Digital transformation is therefore proving to be not a product or a solution to be purchased, but an approach with a global impact within the company, leading to innovations in production processes and systems. Today, companies are undergoing a profound structural transformation. In an increasingly digital age, relationships between organizations and customers are being reshaped, leading to the creation of new business models. Companies must therefore relate to a new reality of digital transformation that is developing at incredible speed. The literature associates this transformation with a fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 (Frank, Dalenogare & Ayala, 2019; De Assis Dornelles, Ayala & Frank, 2022). This revolution is placed after the first three industrial revolutions and, unlike its predecessors, is a disruptive revolution that, by changing a specific activity, causes a complete change in the previous business model (Amos, 2019; Winter, 2020). In order to speak of revolution and not simply evolution, two requirements must be taken into account: omnipresence and change. As far as Industry 4.0 is concerned, the first requirement is met, because technologies have and will have an increasing impact on businesses in all sectors, just think of all the start-ups that, thanks to technological innovation, have created products and/or services such as WhatsApp, Paypal, Facebook, Netflix, Tripadvisor, Uber, Instagram, Twitter, etc., which have won the approval of the general public. These are proving to be the new drivers of Economy 4.0 (Zanchetta, 2021). The second requirement, change, is differentiated in different sectors and different companies, as each company will have different equipment and technologies that will need to be replaced or that can be used through specific implementations, for example by installing different sensors or data collection systems. In addition, the change also seems to be gradual in terms of learning within companies, as the creation of a huge amount of data requires professionally trained people capable of analysing and managing it, which cannot happen in a short time. New digital technologies influence four directions (Maci, 2020): 1. The first one is about data, that's why we talk about Big Data, Open Data, Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things; 2. The second relates to analytics, i.e. the process of deriving information and value from collected data (Big Data); SMART WORKING: MUCH MORE THAN TELEWORK