Of Dhoklas and Digital Twins - Mukesh Bhai's food for thought !

I invariably get excited by the possibilities of what data can offer esp. in terms of plucking out mega insights leading to business differentiators. Today so many businesses take calls based on intuition, experience and may be with a little data. This decision making pyramid is inverting with data first being the new mantra.

Things are indeed poised for a change !

Digital twins are fast catching up in terms becoming the the Executive Advisors to business leaders thereby helping create the value multipliers for their businesses. 

Have tried to spin a short business story (wish it was not hypothetical*) which tries to dwell on how digital twins can help business grow

It is the month of June (could be any year >2018) & India’s business tycoon Mukesh Bhai of The Big R group after is relishing the warm Dhoklas (a vegetarian dish originating from Gujrat). He finishes his sumptuous lunch and walks to the window. The dark clouds are pouring cats and dogs.

The kids were playing in the muddy pot holes and seemingly having great fun in the rain. While he watches them play, he feels a little disturbed.

A thought strikes him and he walks into his center which has the Digital Twin for Business (DTB).

Mukesh Bhai's DTB is a digital replica or a digital model as he calls it of the entire business which gives him a real time integrated view all the physical assets, processes and systems. This DTB is a dynamic model which gets continuous real time data feeds from all the smart systems and smart sensors deployed on all the assets running the business. The DTB is also powered by data sources external to business like weather data streams, soil and crop information from IOT sensors, census data on households, etc. The news feeds which could possibly have an impact to business like a strike (Transporter), floods in South India, etc. are being constantly tracked.

Mukesh Bhai loves the powerful simulation and visualization capabilities in the DTB which allows him not only to gage the health of his Big R group, but also allows him to test his hypothesis/business ideas. The fact that the DTB is built on the latest AI / ML technologies makes it an interesting & intense exercise.

As Mukesh Bhai walks into the DTB, he can see that his team of data scientists are passionately working on mining the next big areas of growth. He can see multiple integrated digital twins – like his logistic twin keeping a track of every vehicle carrying the raw material and finished goods, his Manufacturing twin tracking every batch feeding through the various plant machinery, his sales and distribution twin showing every retail store’s real time business performance.

There is one news snippet flash which catches Mukesh Bhai's eye and its related to spurt in water borne ailments affecting kids. He enquires further on the mortality rates, number of pharmacists, doctors per kilometer per person in rural and urban India, family spends on food vs medicine, etc. Mukesh Bhai is not happy with the figures and thinks again of he kids playing during lunch time.

He feels that Wellness/healthcare may be next area to work on for a healthier India.

Will Mukesh Bhai get his next big idea ?

You will get to know in the concluding part of this blog !

Till then share your feedback which will shape the part 2 of this blog :)

=================================================================**The above work is fictional and any coincidences...............is coincidental.