OPINION
SOFTWARE AG’S SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES Software AG’s sustainability initiatives demonstrate the company’s commitment to creating a more sustainable future, both within its operations and in the wider world.
PREDICT, TEST, AND SUCCEED WITH IOT DIGITAL TWINS Digital twins in IoT — a customer experience, sustainability, operations, and productivity differentiator. Forward-thinking equipment and machinery manufacturers realize that digital twins provide a unique opportunity to enhance the overall user experience and drive customer satisfaction while helping hit performance and sustainability targets. A digital twin is a dynamic virtual representation of a real-world entity or system. “The software object or model mirrors a unique physical object, process, organization, person or other abstraction,” explains analyst firm Gartner1. The beauty of digital twins is that they can be scaled up and down as needed based on the complexity of the ecosystem. Data from multiple digital twins can be collected for a combined view of a city, for example, detailing its related processes. In the same way, a digital twin of a customer can be used to accurately simulate the customer experience, anticipate events, and provide intelligence for future predictions. As a result, digital twins, which started as models in the automotive, defense, and aerospace industries, are now appearing in a host of applications, including supply chains and logistics, healthcare, and energy monitoring in commercial buildings. Enterprises can take advantage of technology to achieve a wide range of goals.
BENEFITS OF DIGITAL TWINS Analysts predict that by 2025, 80% of industry ecosystem participants will leverage their product, asset, and process digital twins to share data and insight with other participants, according to IDC. Digital twins can improve performance and operational efficiencies and save resources and
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costs. In the broader ecosystem, digital twins can improve supply chain efficiencies and agility and drive sustainability efforts. Remote monitoring in a 3D twin of its physical counterpart can enhance productivity and collaboration, for example. Digital twins also provide valuable insight for research and development into products and services that can accelerate market time and boost customer satisfaction. Digital twins are also invaluable when it comes to customer experience. Just as a digital twin can be used in factory production lines for predictive maintenance, a digital twin of a customer can be used to replicate and anticipate customer behavior. Flexco’s customers leverage their Elevate solution to boost production output via predictive monitoring, reduce labor costs involved in maintenance, and reduce downtime of key assets. Gartner also points out the importance of a digital twin in underscoring consumer confidence. “A digital twin can help businesses improve that experience and retain loyalty while identifying the friction points that lead customers to defect to competitors,” the analysts explain. Digital twins can provide a dynamic, virtual representation of customers, providing companies with insight previously not possible to achieve. They can be used to test sales messaging, for example, and predict what will and will not work in marketing campaigns. It is not surprising then, that with the extraordinary capabilities of digital twins, Gartner predicts the digital twin-enabling software and services market will hit $150 billion by 2030, up from just $9 billion in 2022.
INTERPRETING DATA FROM CONNECTED DEVICES As more and more IoT devices become connected with the ability to produce data, having a digital replica enables enterprises to optimize
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5/2/2023 10:31:58 AM
