How To Get There: 3 Steps To Supercharge Your Digital Twin

Whether at the asset, process, or system level, utilities can unlock big results quickly by putting their digital twin to work in the right way. For those who don’t know where to start, following a simple audit, evaluate, and prioritize approach can provide the building blocks needed to realize transformative gains.

By auditing the current situation, which includes identifying what real-time data the utility currently has access to, water managers can determine all the areas where more detailed data can support better decision-making. Quite often, utilities are drowning in data, but lack the basic insights needed to make informed business decisions. This audit phase also involves a closer look into what tools a utility could leverage in order to optimize operations and identifies how a utility might develop more affordable capital improvement plans while utilizing existing infrastructure.

Similarly, by evaluating how a digital twin can add value within the unique context of a specific utility, operators can explore the potential for an initial small-scale project to get a sense of what’s possible. This can be a straightforward, low-cost route for utilities at the early stage of digital maturity, allowing them to determine the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and the potential return on investment.

Evaluations are usually carried out with a trusted technology provider by way of a ‘Discovery Project’. This in-depth evaluation will provide the utility with a rationale for implementation, through interrogating questions like:

1. Does the digital twin provide the necessary real-time decision support, giving operators recommendations based on current or predicted conditions?
2. Can the digital twin automatically optimize and control assets within the network and provide alerts when anomalies occur?
3. Are there limitations to the types of data the digital twin can leverage?
4. Can the utility efficiently and accurately assess the ROI of digital deployment?

Lastly, by prioritizing projects appropriate to a utility’s specific goals and requirements, managers can determine the best route forward. It might make sense to start by optimizing a single asset or area of the system, or there could be an opportunity to move faster if there is an established understanding of how a digital twin can add value.

Every community, utility, and system is unique, and while there is no one-size fits all approach, the opportunities afforded by digital twin technology are endless once its applied to its maximum effect.