Alex Osterwalder, the creator of the business model canvas and one of the foremost experts on business model design, defines a business model as the architecture with which an organization creates value for customers, how it delivers that value, how it captures that value and how an organization defends value.
Digital business models are novel ways to generate demand. This demand can be generated from new users, new partners, and for new products, and new markets. It encourages the use of techniques that add defending value to the business.
The digital business model is about creating a new model which can co-exist with the traditional model of doing business. Often, addition of capabilities which enhance the traditional model are considered as digital business models. This is incorrect. For example, the idea that IOT capabilities to improve machine performance comes under improvements to the traditional model using digital technologies.