Articles

23/06/2024


Digital twins – the virtual mirrors you need

We can say that the “digital twins” are actually a product of the space age and a futurist concept, since it was first successfully introduced by NASA to create simulations or “duplicates” of the real-world spacecrafts and capsules, so the testing would be done on twins, not on real-life objects. A digital twin of a physical object, process or service from the real world is a digital recreation or simulation – to the minutest detail. It is a digital, virtual replica – it could range from simple things like mobile phone to e-vehicles, all the way to the whole (smart) cities with all possible infrastructure needed for its functioning. These digital reproductions can serve for monitoring the real world counterparts, repairing the errors and malfunctions, or they can serve as a field of experimentation – we can simulate the changes to improve the “real life twins” and see the results in the virtual world. 

Who have adopted digital twins already? 

Just like AI which was a niche idea several years ago, until it was everywhere, the digital twin concept was at first highly specific in use, and in 2023 and 2024 it became widespread. In 2023, according to the data from Statista, 15% of the real estate companies around the globe used digital twins of the houses and buildings. Gartner estimates that by 2027, over 40% of large companies worldwide will be using digital-twin concepts in their projects to increase revenue. 

McKinsey’s data claim that the product development leaders need digital twins as a tool to speed up the process of product development, reducing costs and eliminate errors, in order to enhance the results and profits and improve outcomes. Their forecast is that the investment in the concept of digital twins will rise by a whopping 60% annually, reaching $73.5 billion by 2027. It means that the digital twins are a new “goldmine”, if you ask the product developers and company thinkers. 

 

The forecast of product developer leaders is that the investment in the concept of digital twins will rise by a whopping 60% annually, reaching $73.5 billion by 2027.  

 

There is a lot of disparities in the digital twin adoption since the more advanced industries like energy, infrastructure, logistic etc. have a higher adoption rate – the McKinsey’s data show that almost 75% of these companies have already adopted the concept, at least at medium levels of complexity. It is especially so in defence industries, automotive and spacecraft industries, who are at the helm of the adoption process. They tend to expand the use of the concept at the levels of higher complexity, while the energy companies, logistic companies and those dealing with infrastructure tend to develop and use their first digital-twin concepts and use the lower levels of complexity. But soon they will follow the footsteps of the most advanced industries. 

 

Impressive 75% of the advanced industries have already adopted at least medium-level digital-twin concepts while the most popular and omnipresent industries like energy, infrastructure, logistic etc. are currently adopting their first digital-twin concepts at low complexity levels 

 

When should you adopt the digital-twin concept? 

Most companies tend to launch new products to keep their competitiveness and keep up with the competition. Yet estimation from McKinsey says that $30 trillion of revenue in the next 5 years are going to be attributed to the products that do not exist yet. And the digital-twin concept is a risk-free tool to make all the necessary changes before the product is launched, thus sparing millions that could be lost because of the product’s potential shortcomings. 

It is the crucial future tool for R&D sectors in companies that will allow them to test all the possible options they could imagine before they make an actual physical prototype. The concept also enables the R&D teams to test the developing product in extreme or unusual circumstances. 

 

The R&D teams can make all the necessary changes to the product before the actual physical prototype is produced 

 

In fact, the impact in R&D is so huge that the time spent for development of a prototype is shortened any way from 20% to 50% and the number of actual physical prototypes is cut from 3 or 2 to just one before the mass production starts. 

It can also enable real-time and long-distance virtual repairs to some product or services, and it can increase the revenue from the product developed by digital-twin concept by 3-5% while it can go as high as 5-10% if the product has some value-added features. 

 

The revenues from product developed by implementation of a digital-twin concept can reach from 3% to 10%, depending from the degree of value-added features embedded  

 

It is the thing of future, but it has already arrived. It can give you a competitive advantage and cut the R&D costs and time and give you an opportunity to offer a better suited product that the customers will love. 

 


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30/05/2024


AI adoption slowly grows, but here are some possible immediate usages

During the last year and a half, the AI has become a hot topic – the investors have sensed the potential for a new surge in profits and have invested 2 trillion US dollars in the market value of the top 5 big tech companies during just the past year - which theoretically would mean that projected earnings should be around $300-400bn annually. However, the most optimistic projection shows that Microsoft will only earn $10b from AI this year, claims The Economist. Even with a growth rate of 20% per year, it is believed that the true market effects of investing in AI will only be seen by 2032. However, we have some ideas on where AI could already be used profitably. 

 

Paradoxically, AI is not being adopted fast enough - even though the frenzy around the potential use of AI has quickly engulfed the media and business circles, only 5% of companies have used AI in the past two weeks, and it is predicted that in six months, only 7% of companies will be using AI in any serious sense, says America’s Census Bureau. On the other hand, 75% of companies already use some form of AI, including Google Translate or similar Google tools.

All this raises questions - was the AI craze premature, and how can it be leveraged - now, until the full market and economic materialization of the tools is achieved? 

 

CV cross-analysis 

AI mainly serves to speed up some boring and laborious tasks, which, due to their complexity and number of facts, exceed either the power of man or his concentration. One such example that we have encountered and successfully dealt with is the analysis of the skills of candidates and employees through various CVs.  

CVs are generally motley in form even when they are in a database that aggregates all CVs. If the company considers that it needs an employee with a certain skill or a certain set of skills, it is necessary to analyse all CVs that have been uploaded to the database by cross-analysis, regardless of whether they are in PDF or Word format - and here the traditional programmes proved ineffective, because it was necessary for all CVs to be uniform in order for the program to recognise and compare employee skills.  

The AI-supported programme solves this problem because the program that uses it already at the start uses the "human" feature to ignore document formats and positions of individual categories, but intuitively understands them like a human brain, and compares them quickly like a computer programme. Thus, a manager looking for a candidate in the database can very quickly find a potentially suitable candidate in any part of the world. 

 

User Manual Sublimation and Large Documents Analysis in Highly Regulated Environment  

Also, another use of AI-supported programmes is the sublimation of all user instructions, again in a "human intuitive way" - generating a human-understandable "narrative" from a multitude of user instructions that are often very difficult to navigate, voluminous or diverse. 

Highly regulated industries have product release processes that include an approval process that varies by project size and the department involved. Each project and/or department within the organisation establishes its own document approbation and distribution processes.  

In, the pharmaceutical industry, for instance, during the production process, an extremely large number of reports are generated on the condition of the output products, which must be analysed in real time, and this is a problem known as Large Document Analysis.  

Organisations requiring large-scale document analytics can leverage AI-powered solutions to automate approval notifications and create cloud storage processes that automatically distribute newly approved corrections and reminders. They can also streamline approval processes in terms of how they handle disapprovals and resubmissions, and surface only corrections that have not yet been approved for subsequent review. 

 

Where do we go next? 

For the AI market, it is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of  28.46% from 2024 to 2030, says Hostinger. Markets and Markets claim this figure to be even higher – 35.7% in the same period.  

 

Yet, in spite of all this potential, the specific usage lags the high hopes. If we concentrate on the realm of the possible right now, we can solve many time-consuming problems right now. And accelerate the profit rate. 

 


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16/04/2024


3D Virtual Shops: Own the E-Commerce World

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, emerging 3D online virtual shops enjoyed skyrocketing growth, evidencing a significant change in customer behaviour. This paved the way for new, revolutionary solutions, mimicking the “wild dreams” of famous sci-fi writers. The early adopters have already positioned themselves at the helm of the online retail business, generating new profit, urging the others to follow suit and add 3D online virtual shops to their offer. 

3D virtual online shops blend elements of e-commerce, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), thus creating an immersive shopping environment that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. It's like stepping into a game where the objective is to shop in the most interactive and engaging way possible.  

And what about the facts and figures? 

Data from Invesprco show that 95% of shoppers choose things visually. The problem with static 2D imagery is that it severely lacks the whole vision experience and interactivity. A lack of confidence in the product shakes the purchase decision. 3D virtual shops often mend this. Shopify confirms that the conversion rate increases by 40% with 3D visualisations, thus enhancing brand loyalty. Vividworks mentioned on average, retailers using 3D content on Shopify witnessed a 94% increase in conversion rates. 

Also, a study from 2021 found that 40% of online shoppers are willing to pay more for a 3D experience. This indicates the possibility of expanding the average order size and value if the customer uses 3D. The returns, due to a product’s inadequacy in size, design, etc., are sharply reduced (by an estimated figure of 32%) if a shop uses a 3D version, and interestingly, alleviating returns has proven to be one of the most frequent reasons for financial losses retailers. 

 

A study from 2021 found that 40% of online shoppers are willing to pay more for a 3D experience, indicating the possibility of expanding the average order size and value if the customer uses 3D.
 

By 2023, the global market for E-commerce with integrated 3D configurations had reached $11.47 billion, up from $3.65 billion in 2020. It will be an even hotter topic and growing trend in 2024, and it is expected to grow 20% per year in forthcoming years.  

Looking closely, we can see that people are immersed in 3D shopping since 3D shops have 300% higher user engagement—people like to play, and businesses must leverage this to their advantage. 

 

People immersed in 3D shopping since 3D shops have 300% higher user engagement. 
 


How did we get to the 3D virtual shops, and more importantly, why? 

Several factors have contributed to this change: putting the pandemic aside, the ascendance of Generation Z with their “virtual preferences” from solitary environments, the overall dominance of “m-everything” (mobile banking, mobile shopping) and the dissatisfaction with the lack of dimensionality and tactility have all paved the road to 3D virtual stores, which are a step beyond the old experiences of online shopping. They transform the usual interaction between consumers and products, profoundly changing the purchasing decision process. Personal customisation was an old option in the physical shop but is a new must for online stores, and successful companies have taken this to heart. 

 

New generations of users changed their “virtual preferences”, dissatisfied with the lack of dimensionality and interactivity, paving the road for the adoption of 3D shops. 
 

To be successful in the future, brands will have to provide an immersive virtual environment and experience. This experience can refer to the opportunity for customers to see the product in 3D, in all its volume, instead of just an unsatisfactory “flattened” 2D image.  The capability of rotating the product image through 360 degrees along one, two or even three axes and using virtual and augmented realities to create even more immersive experience, like virtual showrooms with free customer movement (browsing virtual shelves), virtual trying of items on themselves (like trying clothes on their avatar), virtual interior design is critical. 3D virtual online shops are the “wedding of the best of both worlds” – the digital and the physical. Of course, it all ends with an easy purchase in a couple of clicks if the items are satisfyingly good. This speeds up the process and enhances the money flow and annual revenue for brands and businesses. 

 

The capability of rotating the product image through 360 degrees along one, two or even three axes and using virtual and augmented realities created an immersive experience. 

 

Present and future markets 

The potential for greater market penetration and customisation is immense since the shopping zeitgeist of today is characterised by individuality; everyone wants their personalised, tailor-made experience, almost like in the days of actual tailor-made products in traditional shops. It’s clear that people miss that experience and quality of products, so the future demand for 3D e-commerce platforms is here to stay and continues to gain traction. Companies know that software solutions can be expensive. Still, the potential of lucrative markets forces them to differentiate themselves from the competition and find their niche by investing heavily in 3D virtual shops. Time and cost, large file sizes, and user education are the “challenge sides” of this business area. 

 

The shopping zeitgeist of today is characterised by individuality; everyone wants their personalised, tailor-made experience.
 

Finally, this phenomenon is global. Everyone owns a mobile phone, and a great majority own computers, so the 3D virtual e-commerce movement is global, from Australia and the Pacific to North America, South America to Africa. As expected, early adopters are in North America, with this continent holding a 45% market share. Asia-Pacific closely follows the United States with the highest growth rate: Asia is expected to outgrow the United States in the next few years, while Europe is firmly holding ground in the middle with a more conservative approach.   

 

The early adopters were in North America, and Asia-Pacific closely follows with the highest growth rate. 
 

So, what to do? And when to do it? 

Therefore, consumer spending in 3D virtual-enabled e-commerce is not just here to stay— it is here to touch the sky. The best time to act was yesterday. However, today is the second-best time to act and switch to 3D online shops. 


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