“Digital Twin” has become a buzzword in the tower industry. At industry trade shows and tech exhibits, digital twin solutions are everywhere: but many platforms offer only some of the benefits that digital twins can provide for tower companies.
A 3D digital twin is a visual representation of a physical asset. With consistent aerial data, digital twin software can produce a precise model, accurate enough to serve inspection and engineering applications. These 3D digital twins offer significant benefits across entire organizations, from field personnel to C-level management. These are the top benefits that our customers report from implementing the vHive digital twin solution.
1) Single Source of Truth: Accurate Records
Tower companies often lack accurate and up-to-date records of what actually exists in the field. One of the most important benefits of digital twin solutions is that an accurate visual representation of a tower acts as a single, undisputable source of truth about the physical asset. Users can zoom in to see exactly what equipment is located on the tower, where it is, and what condition it is in. Complementary tools like vHive’s 360-degree panoramic view provide even more data about tower environs.
2) Streamlined Mergers and Acquisitions
The tower industry is experiencing a period of major growth and opportunity – and mergers and acquisitions are happening at a record pace. With vHive’s digital twin solution, field operations network and autonomous data capture, tower companies can receive insights about all of the accessible sites during the evaluation process – instead of the 10 – 15% sampling of sites they are typically able to survey before a purchase. More complete data enables better negotiations and more accurate pricing. The 3D digital twins generated by these surveys can be easily shared between stakeholders, smoothing the way throughout the M&A process.
3) Optimization of Tower Space
vHive’s platform offers AI-powered analytics that easily identify any available space on existing towers from the 3D digital twin. This helps tower companies to optimize profitability of their assets, ensuring that they capture revenue opportunities. Additional features help tower companies ensure that they are accurately calculating load: allowing them to effectively utilize open space while mitigating the risk of overload.
4) Accurate Billing
3D digital twins provide a digital representation of the equipment on a tower – and vHive makes it easy to annotate and access that information. Users can associate equipment they see on the tower with specific customers and run reports on that information. This solves one of the most persistent challenges that tower companies face: outdated records and cumbersome spreadsheets that can lead to inaccurate billing. Leveraging digital twin technology can help tower companies ensure that their billing is up-to-date and accurately reflects what actually exists on their assets. This use of digital twins helps ensure predictable revenue streams and improves customer relationships.
5) Reduced Time and Cost for Generating Site Models and New Site Plans
Building new sites represents a significant expense for tower companies, but digital twin solutions can cut the time it takes. Interactive, 3D Digital twins of assets can be used to streamline development, providing engineers with a precise rendition of what already exists on a site to help them develop the next build. Providing a simulation environment enables various departments within the organization to visualize, simulate and analyze complex tower installations and new equipment additions or modifications to make sure that they utilize space and equipment on the tower.
6) Deep Business Insights and Better Management
Digital twins are a game-changer for the telecom industry. A digital twin incorporates all the data, functionality and insights needed to utilize the lifecycle of a tower asset. Digital twins provide an accurate visual representation of an individual asset. The vHive digital twin solution goes further, giving stakeholders the capability to develop cross portfolio views of their assets and collaborate effectively. Portfolio-level, accumulated data is critical to solving operational challenges in the tower industry and to managing sites effectively and deploying relevant resources efficiently. Customers can filter through their portfolio by tower name, region, location, date, or tower height. The portfolio page delivers insights on aggregated information. This leads to a deep understanding of the business. Replacing cumbersome spreadsheets and out-of-data databases, vHive’s reports can provide managers with a top-down view of their company and the tools they need to operate efficiently and effectively.
There are many more benefits to digital twin solutions, and as tower companies scale the implementation of digital twins into their businesses those benefits compound. Reach out to vHive to schedule a demonstration and see what benefits your company can realize from our industry-leading digital twin solution.