Can we save the world by duplicating it?

17

October

2019

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Reflecting on our past actions often let us think about “What if I would have decided differently?”. Often, this is combined with some feeling of regret and we wished to would have had a dummy to see the cause and effect before acting in real life. Seen in an abstract manner, but still applicable, is the thought of being in this situation right now as a whole population with regard to climate change and our non-ecological acting over decades. What often hinders people to change their behaviour toward a more sustainable acting is the lack of visualisation and understanding of long-term effects.

A possible solution to this could be given by further improvements in digitalisation and, more specifically, by the Internet of Things (IoT) and the resulting connectivity of objects and systems. IoT refers to the connectivity among heterogeneous objects, devices, and other gadgets equipped with sensors, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and other mobile transmitting devices which increasingly surround us (Bauer et al., 2014). Another term which is often mentioned in relation to that technology is ‘Digital Twins’.
Both technologies play a crucial role in multiple industries and are seen as the fundamental technologies for the Industry 4.0. (Lasi et al., 2014). Here, processes got optimized and projects good more accurately planned due to having shifted physical objects and whole manufacturing line to the digital space. Digital Twins are used to have real-life tracking of the objects and processes they represent. In addition, computer software allows people to run simulations with them to analyse possible effects of changes made to the object and how the overall process might be affected (IBM Developer, 2019).

Related to the previously raised problem concerning our earth’s well-being, first companies have no introduced the idea to create a second, digital world (a digital twin) to better forecast long-term effects caused by humans and to gain a better understanding of how climate change still may be stopped. For instance, Descartes Labs raised new money by investors to finance further development of its geo-tracking sensor technology (TechCrunch, 2019). Other companies, such as Iceye expanding investments and research in satellite data generation and analysis (Iceye, 2019). Such companies have realized that, even though the world appeared too big for creating one uniform picture of it, technology and especially sensor-technology has offered new ways to create a proper replication of it. Besides having satellite data providing research with relevant data about the dynamics on the surface, IoT has now started to build up a network of connectivity in which even objects, processes and areas can communicate on a constant basis to exchange information. Such a network of connectivity could lead to a digital twin of our earth with which in-depth research about cause and effect relations could be emphasized. Based on that, population can be provided with a better understanding of how even one’s own actions can affect changes in a positive and negative manner.

But will this be the key for change? What do you think, would you be more aware of your actions and their effects if you could run them in a simulation?
Feel free to leave a comment!

References:

Bauer, H., Patel, M., & Veira, J. (2014). The Internet of Things: Retrieved from: McKinsey at http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_int ernet/the_internet_of_t hings_sizing_up_the_opportunity.

IBM Developer. (2019). What are digital twins?. [online] Available at: https://developer.ibm.com/articles/digital-twins-and-the-internet-of-things/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

Iceye. (n.d.). ICEYE Satellite Missions. Retrieved from https://www.iceye.com/resources/satellite-missions.

Lasi, H., Fettke, P., Kemper, H. G., Feld, T., & Hoffmann, M. (2014). Industry 4.0. Business & information systems engineering, 6(4), 239-242.

TechCrunch. (2019). Descartes Labs snaps up $20M more for its AI-based geospatial imagery analytics platform – TechCrunch. [online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/11/descartes-labs-snaps-up-20m-more-for-its-ai-based-geospatial-imagery-analytics-platform/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

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Shape your future market to capture its promised value.

15

September

2019

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Getting confronted with terms such as “Digital Era” or “Industry 4.0” let us assume, that we live in an ecosystem that is already set up sufficiently with sensor technology that operates in a network of high-speed connectivity and real-time information exchange. If we would ask our parents, they would possibly support that assumption – while still being fascinated by the new TV’s ability of entering the internet. Unfortunately, the reality depicts a heterogeneous composition of emerging promises accompanying 5G broadband implementation and a lack in infrastructure connectivity within countries (Oughton, E. J., & Frias, Z., 2018). While auctions for the 5G usability rights have reached new price dimensions at the beginning of this year, countries still debate about digitisation strategies for their infrastructures to efficiently unlock this disruptive technology’s potential in the far future (Medin, M., & Louie, G., 2019).

So, is there any reason for shifting the focus towards a technology which appears to be just a nice premium in an infrastructure, that still needs to tackle the basic problems of connectivity?

One central concept for answering these questions could be the general importance of digital ubiquity in today’s world. It is understood to drive companies to think ahead and to strive for revolutionising their business models on the background of value creating and capture. According to them, a company has to re-evaluate the core values for its customers while, at the same time, needs to understand new industry forces and dynamics to capture the identified value (Iansiti, M., & Lakhani, K. R., 2014).

A company that faces  the problems surrounding 5G technology and which addresses the potential of 5G technology by dealing with future dynamics within its industry is T-Mobile.

One promising step is the planned merge with the fourth-largest U.S. carrier ‘Sprint’ (Forbes, 2019). Together, they address a wide-spread problem in the U.S., namely the lack of proper internet access in rural areas and in the overall outdated wireless environment of the country. In the short run, this move mainly underlines the two companies’ goal of staying competitive in a market to compete with the two biggest carriers in the U.S. market – Verizon and AT&T. By taking a look far beyond the current market situation T-Mobile addresses these communities in hope to gain new customer segments throughout the country. The company is convinced that a wider network creates new value, including further price reductions, wide-spread wireless connectivity in the U.S. and, consequently, higher interaction between customers in the network (T-Mobile-Commitment, 2019). Based on that, product and service offerings shall benefit from the network and allowing T-Mobile to offer at a low-price, while introducing new service innovations to the market (NewYorkTimes, 2019).

However, what matters in today’s fast evolving industries is a company’s capability of capturing the new value. In our case, T-Mobile shifts its focus already to a new digital era, in which the 5G technology will play a crucial part. To capture the promised new value, the company intends to become a key player in that industry. Merging with Sprint creates a pool of resources with which T-Mobile could direct its business model towards the potential of the future markets (FinancialTimes, 2019). Providing high-speed at a low price at a high scale will also increase the pressure on other sectors within the industry and markets such as in-house bandwidth providers, who would need to orientate on the T-Mobiles price-settings. Not only do other companies within the emerging market welcome T-Mobile’s pro-active attitude, but also did public institutions and political parties mention their hope, that this move will create a domino-effect, driving other industries towards the implementation of 5G technology (TheWallStreetJournal, 2019).

In general, a public mindset should be the encouragement of such companies to think beyond well-known dimensions to give a kick-start for much bigger movement. Especially when dealing with the digitisation of whole industry infrastructures, these approaches will be essential for creating opportunities and to reach new potential within industries.

 

References

Iansiti, M., & Lakhani, K. R. (2014). Digital ubiquity: How connections, sensors, and data are revolutionizing business.

Medin, M., & Louie, G. (2019). The 5G Ecosystem: Risks and Opportunities for DoD. Defense Innovation Board Washington DC United States.

Oughton, E. J., & Frias, Z. (2018). The cost, coverage and rollout implications of 5G infrastructure in Britain. Telecommunications Policy, 42(8), 636-652.

Sprint T-mobile Merger: Overview Of Some Of The Recent Developments
Trefis Team – https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/05/16/sprint-t-mobile-merger-overview-of-some-of-the-recent-developments/#922069058df5 [accessed 15.09.2019]

T-mobile-sprint Merger Wins Approval Of F.c.c. Chairman
Edmund Lee – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/business/dealbook/sprint-tmobile-merger.html [accessed 15.09.2019]

T-mobile and Sprint Clinch Us Approval For Merger
Kadhim Shubber – https://www.ft.com/content/048a149a-af00-11e9-8030-530adfa879c2 [accessed 15.09.2019]

U.s. Approves T-mobile-sprint Merger
Sarah Krouse-Drew FitzGerald – https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-approves-merger-of-t-mobile-us-and-sprint-11564155026 [accessed 15.09.2019]

When We Say We’ll Do Something, We Mean It!
John Legere – https://www.t-mobile.com/news/new-t-mobile-commitments [accessed 15.09.2019]

 

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