EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HOW DO DIGITAL TWINS IMPACT OVERALL PRODUCTIVITY AND HOW SHOULD LATIN AMERICAN CIOS PREPARE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM ?
Digital Twins seem very familiar to us , as they are quoted and applied in countless science fiction films that cover essential parts of the plot of classics such as Star Wars ( 1977 ) or Jurassic Park ( 1993 ).
Digital Twins , as their name implies , are copies or replicas of physical elements , such as buildings , facilities , products and vehicles , which assimilate the changes of their physical counterparts in real-time and allow testing and analysis in the virtual world without exposing its structure .
With this , they attend to various tasks , from analysis of structures and time of use of elements and components to reports of expenses for consumption of materials , public services and hours worked .
But Digital Twins are not a novelty . There have been many products and services for several decades to fulfill these tasks in buildings and constructions where total control was indispensable , such as nuclear power plants , military bases , data centers , ports and airports .
The lack of integration between the elements limited a comprehensive vision , apart from needing expert professionals to analyze and program all the features .
We can manage intelligent buildings , data centers , facilities , warehouses , medical centers , educational institutions and supermarkets from Digital Twin models , regardless of their size .
Digital Twins reduce risks and increase efficiency in managing the infrastructure , buildings and production process while reducing energy and environmental consumption indicators and insurance overruns .
Research entities such as Gartner , Forrester and IDC list the Digital Twins as one of the key technology trends for this decade . When it comes to digital acceleration , more than a trend , they are the focus of attention for the IT sector .
Accenture ’ s Technology Vision 2021 Report explains that “ The companies that begin to build smart twins of their assets and rebuild their first mirrored environments today will be the ones that will propel industries and the world towards a more agile and intelligent future .”
That same study highlights that 87 percent of the executives interviewed agree that Digital Twins have become essential for organizations to collaborate in strategic alliances in their ecosystems .
Thus , the boom in the use of sensors that provide consistent data of diversity of variables and the development of network systems , together with analytical and Artificial Intelligence applications , all under Internet protocols and the use of automated programming models or Low Code , enable the development of Digital Twins as we know them today .
For this reason , we invited three experts from the IT industry to answer the question for this edition . They are Joaquín Saldaña , Director of Strategy and Marketing , Latin America , Huawei ; Mario Tonizza , Solutions Engineer , Oracle ; and Sebastián Giraldo , Director of the Industrial Automation Division Andean Cluster , Schneider Electric .
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