Industry 4.0 has introduced us to 3 immense technology concepts that are bound to have a huge and permanent future impact on the world of business as we see it.

However, with all the terms and keywords that are used to illustrate key components of each technology, explain the inner workings of the concepts that bring these ideas to life and refer to how you can use them in your business, it can get confusing quite fast. Because of these three emerging technologies, you might be struggling to understand the differences between them which can cause confusion when it comes to incorporating them into your company. In today’s article, we will talk about the most important distinctions that separate digital twin, IoT and digital thread technologies for you to have a better understanding of them.

How is IoT different compared to virtual twins?

First of all, it is important to correctly set the distinctions that describe each concept in its entirety. Internet of Things (IoT) defines hundreds of millions of devices that can be connected and controlled via the internet. For instance, house lights that can be turned on through your phone via Bluetooth connection are considered as IoT. This concept essentially involves every single device that is either connected or could be connected to the Internet and controlled that way.

On the other hand, digital twin is a virtual replica of an object, system, process, product or service that is digitalized and put on a simulation platform. Digital Twinning, is called a process that involves creating and building a reality-based entity on an online platform. Unlike Internet of Things that must meet the criteria of being able to connect to the Internet and be controlled, a virtual twin can be anything you can imagine. Moreover, this concept doesn’t necessarily have to be an object because “twinning” can involve replicating a system, process or anything else that is intangible but crucial for business.