When you think of twins, what immediately comes to mind? The movie the Parent Trap? Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen traveling the world as child celebrities? Identical sets of different products? Have you ever heard of a digital twin? This is a process of business intelligence that creates a digital version of a physical product to test different hypotheses or scenarios regarding that actual item.

Within the digital revolution, so many different solutions and techniques have evolved to use technology to improve operations for many different businesses. As a business owner, your physical assets are incredibly important. It can be risky or costly to try out new design ideas or attempt a simulation for the first time with those valuable items in the real world.

Instead, take advantage of a digital twin model to test different outcomes. This solution can be helpful, but it may not be for everyone or every organization. Before you commit to building a digital twin, there are some questions you’ll want to ask. Here are some sample questions to help you determine if this is a good course of action for your operation.

What is a digital twin?

First, it’s important to ask the details about what it is you would be building. Defining what a digital twin is will help you understand the template as a whole. Essentially, digital twins are a digital form or representation of processes, services, or physical products. These digital replicas can then be analyzed, evaluated, and manipulated without causing any risk or damage to the actual item.

Converging these two worlds allows you to learn more about both and test out simulations. These twins can easily integrate with artificial intelligence and the internet of things and also play a huge role in the development and advancement of Industry 4.0.

What is the ultimate goal of presenting a digital twin?

Before you commit to this kind of technology, you’ll need to get your team on board. Know what your ultimate goal is in creating a digital twin. Present the pros and cons with a convincing PowerPoint design. By setting up connections and using a slide master, you can see analytics of why a digital twin can help benefit your situation. Whether you’re asking permission or looking for reasons to go ahead with the project, a well-crafted PowerPoint may just be the solution you’re looking for.

How will this help your application?

There are plenty of benefits to a digital twin, so do the research on how this will help your exact application. You can use product, process, or system twins. This means you’re creating a digital version of products to sell or systems that will work within your operations. See how these advanced schematics and strategic technology trends can help you excel in your chosen field.

Are you in an industry that can benefit from this technology?

While digital twin technology can help many different industries, certain areas will benefit most from this technology. If you work in manufacturing, transportation, retail, healthcare, gas and oil, or smart technology, you can definitely gain some analytics power from the digital world. All these industries experience real consequences if something goes wrong in the physical world, so figure out solutions within the separate framework first.

Will you run into any cons or complications?

You need to know the cons of implementing digital twin technology before committing. Ask yourself what risks you may acquire. In this case, a digital twin model may end up causing security risks because they’re harder to control. You’ll also be investing a lot of money upfront for a program that could yield fewer results than anticipated. It’s important to know these things before you invest in a digital twin.