Technology has long been hailed as a potential tool that could shape the future. The latest report by Accenture, ‘Technology Trends 2021: Leaders Wanted’, indicated the place technology holds in navigating the future, as envisaged by the most visionary leaders. The report threw light on diverse fields of importance like IT architecture, automation, Mirrored world etc. Among them the point of highlight was the ‘Digital Twins’ technology that came under Mirrored world. Mirror world is a high point of digital twins blended with artificial intelligence that fuels business evolution of remarkable scope.
Digital twins offer the businesses, opportunities for innovation and growth. And now, fused with artificial intelligence and data analytics, it has become all the more sharp and refined. By enabling businesses to analyze ‘what- if’ scenarios through simulations of the real plight, the technology offers ground for improvement and optimization. Innovation is a crucial factor that retains the position of any organization within the circle of competition. However, innovation involves a factor of risk, since it requires entrepreneurs to step into an untouched domain. With digital twins, this risk factor is minimized, thereby opening up a wide range of possibilities.
The ability of the digital twins to monitor, simulate and streamline date from devices has helped it to extend their influence across various fields. And over time, it has evolved to blend levels of artificial intelligence and innovations, considerably increasing the working ground, enabling it to link bigger models like supply chains, ports, factories and even entire cities.
As per the reports, digital twins cover a rather big ground of action, whether it be strategy development, business model development, operations improvement, innovations or testing new products. Apart from these major applications, the technology also backs monitoring, decision making, predictive maintenance, cyber security etc.
About 46% of enterprises have built their digital twins on an estimated 50% of artificial intelligence input. Apart from helping businesses in gathering, visualizing and contextualizing data from various sources, digital twins also entails the added advantage of helping businesses to analyze ‘what-if’ scenarios. With the addition of artificial intelligence, the technology gains a large ground to build on and thereby achieve, exponential growth. Data and intelligence will eventually take the leading stead.
Though investments on the technology vary with different businesses, all of them agree on the crucial point that digital twins suitably fit into their business strategies. It is becoming an important pre-requisite that enhances the organization’s ability to collaborate in strategic ecosystem partnerships.
One good example of such partnership is that of Microsoft and Unilever. Both the companies are directing their resources in building digital twins of Unilever’s factories. This will considerably back tracking and testing, thereby ensuring efficiency. Unilever’s pilot twin in Brazil played a monumental role in helping the company save energy costs.
In short, the collaboration of intelligence and data at such high magnitudes bridges the gaps in efficiency, endowing digital twins with a crucial role to play.
The pandemic, again has taken up the role of a catalyst to innovation in this particular technological landscape. The big-picture questions faced by the organizations demand clarity and visibility, which is where digital twins come in, enabling the businesses to collaborate and operate effectively.
According to the Accenture report,
“Leading organizations will start to push the boundaries of the duality of the real world and virtual world, including the need for persistence and seamless navigation through both”, 91% agree, 8% remain neutral, and just 1% disagree.
The report concludes, “The businesses that start today, building intelligent twins of their assets and piecing together their first mirrored environments, will be the ones that push industries, and the world, toward a more agile and intelligent future.”
