#SingularityUSouthAfrica2019: Why digital twins make all the difference

Amin Toufani - Singularity U South Africa 2019 Summit. Image supplied.

We decided to look at companies that have grown exponentially in the last two decades. The idea was that if we understood how these companies grew exponentially, we could also grow our own businesses exponentially. So we studied more than 300 businesses that had grown exponentially and pretty compelling patterns emerged. That is how the exponential business models framework was born.

What was the first exponential business model? The wheel. It truly transformed transportation and changed our world. But the wheel was not invented until 3500BC… so what did people do before the wheel? Have you ever wondered about that? Was it all drag and drop? I like to think that any caveman would have known that round objects tend to roll so why did it take so long for the wheel to be invented?

It turns out the invention of the wheel wasn't very difficult; the complicated part was the invention of the axel. The axel was that key to enabling innovation that unleashed this exponential creation. As we look at businesses that have grown exponentially in the last two decades, we are always searching for that axel, that key for enabling innovation that led to exponential value that led to an exponential business model.

“Intelligence is hitting a target that nobody else can. Genius is hitting a target that no one else can see.” - Amin Toufani

Think about any person in your world, any piece of property, any process, and ask yourself whether that person property or process has a digital representation. If not, go and capture it, and recognise it you might be sitting on top of an exponential business model.

This also explains the vast majority of disruption stories out there. The moment you have that digital representation, you can take that digital twin and apply all these other exponential technologies to it. That’s how you unleash exponential value.

Because the easiest way to think outside the box is to not know where the box is. That is how you gain a competitive advantage for playing outside your field.