The mischevious digital twin: Business Value from a Physical-Digital Convergence

We are experiencing a turning point from the physical to the digital in the business environment, which is expected to intensify by 2020, focusing on decision-making and positioning, based on strategic data and technology management.

Digital Transformation: In the business world, the term defines the set of changes in processes, products and business strategies enabled by recent technological innovations. The theme goes far beyond the mere adoption of new Information Technology (IT) solutions: it includes understanding all the possibilities offered by digital tools and how these resources can transform the customer experience and its relationship with the brand, its integration to internal production and management systems and, ultimately, to their impact on the organization's own business model.

The digital revolution involves a new positioning in the value chain, the redefinition of information flows inside and outside the company and the transformation of this information into intelligence.

Many companies are concerned about digital transformation, but they are not yet ready for it. It's not about simply creating a smartphone app. It involves a new positioning in the value chain, the redefinition of information flows inside and outside the company and the transformation of this information into intelligence.

Experts in innovation and digital culture help us understand the next steps along this path. A certainty is unanimous: 2020 will be a year of inflection from physical to digital in the global business landscape.

Analytics: Data that Become Strategies.

Digital tools that uncover and interpret patterns and meanings within large flows of information combine statistics, data programming, and operational research.

In a world where the amount of circulating information multiplies exponentially, producing the so-called big data, it is necessary to employ digital resources to understand the meaning and value of the data collected in order to generate market intelligence. As early as 2018, the reach and sophistication of the tools will increase appreciably, bringing versatility and ease of use.

Analytics will increasingly be combined with cognitive experiences, which use data from the environment in which users enter to track their behavior. The idea is to provide differentiated experiences both within companies and to customers, increasing the intimacy between companies and their audiences. The convergence between the expansion of cloud computing, mobility, digital devices and information arriving via social networks will be enhanced by the use of analytics. Much of IT business spending will be related to these technologies.

 IoT: the internet of things.

Connecting a wide variety of household appliances, machines and everyday objects to the web through intelligent sensors challenges the manufacturing and technology sectors to a new paradigm.

It is expected that by 2020 the number of objects connected to the internet could exceed 20 billion. Not to mention the traditional connections, via cell phone or computer. Today we are understanding how to insert this kind of connectivity into cars and televisions, and the next step will be to 'embed' the technology in the people themselves, in their clothes and personal effects.

In this context, the manufacturing sector is already preparing the incorporation of IoT to the factory floor. This is what has been called Industry 4. The internet is increasingly present in industrial processes, including assembly lines, power generation and distribution systems, and maintenance and communication processes. Aviation, rail, energy, health and the oil and gas chain are the leading segments of the trend.

Urban connection.

The "smart cities" seek a more efficient and sustainable management with the extensive use of telecommunications and digital services.

Smart grids, which allow the more rational use and distribution of electricity in the public grid, will gain momentum. It is possible to use public lighting network to integrate data transmission and connectivity to a whole city foreshadows.

Virtual reality is real.

Interface interaction between the user and an operating system replicates environments as close as possible to reality.

The concept is old - the first sets of glasses and virtual reality (VR) gloves were marketed in the 1980s. But the rapid evolution of devices and the fall in costs in recent years have made virtual reality an increasingly especially in developed countries.

The good news is that systems are increasingly refined and versatile. One application that will come in handy is the use in learning labs, which will recreate virtual spaces such as operating rooms or command booths, or offer simulated training in hostile and dangerous environments, safely.

3D printing: a factory at home.

Technology that allows the printing of three-dimensional models of objects, in materials such as resin or nylon, should grow.

In comparison to virtual reality, 3D printing must gain space more quickly worldwide. Even models for home use are already on the market, and a number of IT startups and design studies solutions based on the new technology, which should popularize the service even more. The trend is for such printers to become analogous to fast graphics: anyone can download an Internet project, go to a 3D printing bureau, and get out in a matter of hours with a ready prototype.

The people no longer wants to buy things only: they want to build them, to modify them, to change their meanings. With 3D printing, these experiences leave the labs and take to the streets. For companies, the possibilities in creating diverse products and parts are immense. Although the stages of research and development are costly, prototyping has become very cheap.

Blockchain beyond bitcoin.

Popularized with the use of the criptomoeda bitcoin, data system groups "blocks" of financial negotiations and guarantees the secrecy and validity of several types of transactions.

The technology known as blockchain became famous for enabling the purchase and sale of bitcoins and other crypto-coins. His permanent and inviolable records of transactions, however, offer more varied possibilities.

This type of database has been studied by financial institutions, investment funds and governments to enable the "signing" of smart contracts, the purchase and sale of securities and other services.

It is a technology that potentially can make a big impact on our economy, but the prospect of use is in the medium term. Variety of uses such as the certification of assets, securities and contracts, movement of points in loyalty programs and the payment of commissions. The blockchain brings agility and efficiency, and greatly reduces the risk of fraud. It may be important to bring more transparency to the financial market.

Health in the digital age.

New technologies that come to address historic bottlenecks in health services include diagnostic tools, monitoring, prevention, and management.

Digital innovation has entered the sector with force. We have already begun to experience the dissemination of mobile applications or the use of analytics in interpreting patient databases.

With the neologism, we will see a series of capillary initiatives that will take advantage of technologies and connections already available to improve services that are not efficient.

New applications and software will bring agile results to timely issues such as chronic disease monitoring, more effective management of idle beds, or optimization of prescription and drug purchase. Large companies in the industry dream of electronic medical record systems that can form a single database shared between the public system and health plans. However, this is a project still far, given its complexity. "

Cyber security.

Technologies and management processes that are dedicated to preventing and mitigating risks associated with sensitive data in IT environments are gaining in importance.

There is a perception that new controls and forms of management need to be implemented to account for changes. Defining security practices and governance boundaries, including cloud data and personal employee devices, is a top priority for managers. If they are not updated, old digital security practices become obstacles. Like any modification in an environment, digital transformation brings advantages and risks. The old model, based on compliance alone, is not enough.

In addition to protection mechanisms, it is necessary to create a culture of resilience and adopt a proactive rather than merely reactive stance in the face of increasing invasions, leaks and data breaches.

Stand alone platforms.

Systems capable of managing IT resources and mechanical applications on their own, using automation to fulfill tasks and reducing human interference in production, should be expanded in the short term.

Standalone platforms are an important part of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry, and more. Its architectures foresee the automation of tasks such as material demand control, production monitoring and resource management, taking advantage of the ubiquity of sensors and software on machines and the connections between them. Its autonomy includes the ability to analyze one's performance and promote improvements and corrections.

Big companies that offer integrated solutions, ecosystems that combine data storage and analytics, and startups that are dedicated to modernize equipment already installed.

Companies are gradually realizing that the industrial internet should be an essential part of their projects. Medium and large companies are a potential market for more complete solutions, integrating intelligent machines and systems. In multinationals, there is room for cooperation with local software developers.