Featuring:
Stephanie Liu, Senior Analyst and Paul Miller, VP and Principal Analyst
Show Notes:
As technology expands and evolves, so does the terminology, which can be part of the challenge. Case in point: digital doubles and digital twins. In this episode, Vice President and Principal Analyst Paul Miller and Senior Analyst Stephanie Liu dig into the distinctions between these two technologies that sound similar but are fundamentally different in purpose and design.
Liu begins by defining a digital double as an algorithm created and owned by the consumer, which then interacts with other algorithms to tailor digital experiences based on personal values and goals. For example, a digital double might interact with a brand, retailer, or search engine to tailor the outputs based on the consumer’s goals and preferences. Liu says that the rising use of algorithms in consumer applications has driven demand for more consumer-centric digital doubles.
Switching gears, Miller defines a digital twin as a digital representation of a physical thing’s data, state, relationships, and behavior. He emphasizes that by saying, “These digital twins … always, always, always have a physical twin.” Miller says digital twins evolved from physical twins and are now most commonly found in asset-intensive industries like manufacturing and building and construction.
The conversation next turns toward the use cases and challenges of each technology. Liu further elaborates on digital doubles’ adaptability, suggesting the potential for multiple representations tailored to varied contexts, such as sharing specific data with a healthcare provider versus a workplace. She asserts, “For that reason … I think we’ll create multiple digital doubles depending on what data we need to share to get a task done or to meet our goals.”
Miller also provides unique use cases for digital twins, including a large manufacturer that built a digital twin of a factory based on data from its existing factories to optimize the next factory it planned to open.
Later, the discussion touches on the blurred lines and various terms used by vendors to describe these technologies. Liu says the term “digital double” was created specifically to differentiate the technology from the more commonly accepted digital twin. And Miller says he’s heard vendors use the term “virtual twin” to mean “digital twin” and has received requests to make digital twins of processes that, in fact, violate the definition of a digital twin.
The episode closes with Liu and Miller each providing their perspective on the future of digital doubles and digital twins, so be sure to stick around for that.
