Digital twins enable continuous monitoring, simulation and analysis of an object, product or system over the course of its lifecycle, from design and production to maintenance and decommissioning. They can also incorporate external processes and critical variables that affect an asset’s performance.
A key feature is real-time, two-way data exchange between the object and its virtual replica, helping ensure that simulated conditions accurately reflect the physical world. Enterprises can also connect multiple digital twins to model more complex systems in service of a larger digital transformation or Industry 4.0 strategy.
By providing insight into how an object functions in the present—and projecting how it might behave in future scenarios—digital twins help organizations improve efficiency, accelerate innovation and make data-driven, informed decisions. Common use cases include process optimization, predictive maintenance, supply chain optimization and product development.
Many modern digital twin providers, including Siemens, General Electric, Nvidia, IBM, Bentley and Microsoft, offer a full suite of services. Packages might include hardware layers (such as sensor kits), data processors, synchronization services, simulation engines, analytics platforms and visualization dashboards. But enterprises with more specialized applications might instead take a modular approach, choosing several services to match their needs.
Digital twins can represent virtually any object, from buildings and bridges to cars, airplanes, historical artifacts and even the earth. They might also model complex systems such as traffic patterns, weather events, healthcare treatment plans and factory operations. Finally, in more experimental contexts, digital twins might be based on real or imagined people, complete with modeled voice, appearance and personality traits.
Digital twins are now widely used across industries: A 2023 Strategic Market Research study found that roughly 75% of businesses employ them in some capacity. These initiatives can be costly and resource-intensive. But for many enterprises, they are worth the investment: 92% of companies who deploy digital twins report returns above 10%, while over half report at least 20% return on investment, according to a 2025 Hexagon survey.