New technology presents new opportunities to businesses worldwide. Aiming at catching some of these opportunities, many companies are currently going through digital business transformations. Can digital solutions help us become more innovative? Become more efficient? Cut costs? Digital transformation has many faces, each with tremendous business potential. 

One of these faces is the digital transformation of the product lifecycle and the strive for the digital twin. Being a digital representation of the product or process through its entire lifecycle, the digital twin adds benefits both internally and for end customers. Promoting predictivity and innovation, it reforms the development, manufacturing and operational workflows of a business. Enabling the possibility to find new unique selling points, it has the potential to become the cornerstone of a company’s future success. Although most companies are looking into digital twins, most of them miss out on this opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition.

In my role, I get to have many interesting discussions about digital twins with people from different organizations. The progress of the digital twin initiatives differs heavily depending on who you talk to, even within organizations. A fundamental issue in most businesses is the lack of a common perception of the digital twin concept itself, making it impossible to establish a unified company strategy for how to approach the subject. As a consequence, many businesses tend to follow the transformation journeys of competing companies rather than leading the way. If the progress of your digital twin initiative ”is in line with competition”— you’re likely missing out on the chance to gain a competitive edge.

To reach this competitive advantage, start by developing a common perception of what the digital twin is for you. The concept doesn’t necessarily have to mean the same thing for you as for your customers or competitors. Learn about the possibilities and think about what business value you want to achieve. Don’t start with the technical discussions. Start in the value you want to create for yourselves and your customers.

Don’t let your progress stay in line with the competition, lead the future. Creating unique value is what drives long-term success. The digital twin is the tool for reaching that value! 

Want to learn more about the digital twin? Check out the Digital Twin Workshop!

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