This issue of Amplify takes a lessons-learned approach — revisiting the concept of digital twins with an eye toward how organizations are using digital twins, the implementations, and the challenges encountered. The articles in this issue were selected to provide important lessons about real-world deployments and case studies. They also provide insights about industries where digital twins have gained early traction and what types of organizations are adopting digital twins, including those focused on sustainability and those seeking to enable Metaverse scenarios.

Alexander Weber discusses the use of digital twins in radar systems. This is a good example of using digital twins to simulate products that are costly to build (especially if they are built incorrectly) and their use in addressing compliance requirements. Weber explains how the model was verified and how the simulated data corresponds to the real data.

Jason Radel explores the application of a digital twin framework for the ingestion, application, and visualization of digital twins and the integration of light detection and ranging data, photographs and scans, and other engineering documents. The article includes case studies from the energy and defense sectors, demonstrating how such an approach can be used in managing digital twins in different industries.

In this Advisor, Matthew Walsh explores the results of in-depth research conducted to identify the inequities that women of color experience in the technology industry. If employers can tap into a skills-similar, tech-eligible workforce revealed by the Equation for Equality, there would be nearly 250,000 more women of color in tech jobs today, double the number currently in tech.

Breaking through psychological barriers to entry is key to succeeding with any data management initiative. This is doubly true when seeking to adopt semantic standards to implement a knowledge graph within your organization — because change is risky. Application owners don’t want to give up control. Most key stakeholders don’t really understand the principles of data; they just want a near-term solution to an isolated use case. And the data dilemma is often viewed as too low-level for C-level executives to get their arms around. In this Executive Update, we explore how to fundamentally fix data so that it becomes a resource organizations can truly leverage.

We conducted an empirical study in Malaysia with IT practitioners and confirmed that communication plays a vital role in project success. Our study probed the influence of five communication characteristics: content, method, velocity, process, and frequency, and how they can propel a team toward success. With the exception of frequency, the findings showed that the remaining characteristics influenced project success.

In this Advisor, we argue that disruption in banking is not being driven by technological achievements like artificial intelligence, decentralized platforms, or mobile computing. Rather, changes are the result of: (1) technology commoditization and (2) industry actors pursuing strategic interests and repositioning themselves within the sector as disruptors, innovators, and fashion-setters. Envisioning a technology agora where technological artifacts are developed and commoditized and interested parties exercise influence over innovation choices, we will see that fintechs and banks are not so much competing with each other as they are collaborating.

To address the gap between DAO awareness and adoption, along with the prevalent misconceptions and skepticism surrounding them, we seek to understand why some DAOs succeed and others fail through an industry-specific lens.

This Advisor enumerates classic leadership mistakes made in turbulent times and provides guidance on how to adapt to this turbulence.

This conversation on the Advancing Workplace Equity issue of Amplify is open to all of the authors who participated in the issue, and all members of ADL's open consulting community.

Linda A. Patterson talks about the strength that women of color possess that “stems from endurance, perseverance, and survivorship.” Given their many roles in the workplace, home, and community, women of color excel at managing, creating, innovating, strategizing, and multitasking. These skills are often additive to their formal education and specializations. So why aren’t they being given an equitable seat at the table? Why do we still have low percentages of women of color in technology jobs, senior-level positions, and board roles? Patterson suggests five steps toward offering “equitable opportunities for women of color in a meaningful, sustainable, and measurable way.”

Eli Doster shares that having a broken culture was not only terrible for staff at his company, it was also costly and had a negative impact on business. Five years ago, the company lacked values employees could believe in, which affected their decisions and actions. Furthermore, the company lacked “diversity of cultures, ethnicity, and perspective.” Doster talks about the signals that enabled its leaders to identify these problems and describes how they implemented the changes that transformed the culture and improved their overall results.

David S. Lee “offers an on-the-ground perspective of how diversity policies encounter issues once they leave home shores.” He examines the construction of diversity policies along with relocation issues that come up and provides ways to enhance diversity policies in a more holistic way that considers cultural contexts.

Timicka Anderson and Philip Fitzgerald highlight why diversity is both a strength and a priority at Citibank, a global bank committed to DEI. The authors explain the impact to the bottom line when companies increase access to nontraditional ways to pursue careers, rather than relying on traditional pathways. Anderson and Fitzgerald emphasize that “upskilling, the practice of facilitating continuous learning by providing training programs and development opportunities that expand an individual’s abilities, is key.”

Matthew Walsh explores the results of in-depth research conducted to identify the inequities that women of color experience in the technology industry. He begins his piece by pointing out the “occupational segregation” that exists in the workplace with the underrepresentation of Black, Latino, and American Indian women in fast-growing sectors. To help mitigate this concern Walsh offers the Equation for Equality, a tool employers can use “to expand their talent pool in a low-risk way by identifying workers outside a given sector who use a similar skill set to the one required by an open position.”

Rohini Anand explains that a “willingness to expose oneself to experiences outside one’s home country to truly understand local cultures and geopolitical contexts without judgement” is at the core of global DEI competency. By doing this, we can be authentically curious about other cultures and continuously learn. Anand also encourages us to be strategic about integrating that global mindset and intellectual curiosity into our work.

This issue of Amplify contains six articles written by executives, researchers, and professionals with vast experience and knowledge on the topic of equity versus equality. The first two articles provide global perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The third contains cutting-edge research that shows the reality of equity in many companies. The final three pieces describe best practices that companies have deployed to create a more equitable on-ramp as well as advancement opportunities for all employees, with a focus on women of color.

Generative AI systems have exploded on the scene, and companies are using them for business. Currently, the more common enterprise uses of the technology include for automating design and for providing semiautomated responses to customer requests. That said, companies like Audi are employing generative AI to develop cutting-edge applications that can give them a leg-up on competitors.

As we explore in this Advisor, breaking free from the execution trap is often the single biggest thing leaders can do to increase their impact. Even better, breaking yourself free from the execution trap can also help break the whole organization free.

In this 4-hour bootcamp (2 hours each on 2 consecutive days) taught by Prof. Deishin Lee, you will discover both the critical success factors for managing supply-side uncertainty and what the leap to a circular supply chain involves.

Human-centric functional modeling (HCFM) is a way to allow computers to solve general problems. HCFM represents problems via constructs called “functional state spaces.” These hypothetical functional state spaces are special types of knowledge graphs used to model systems. Functional state spaces are required for general collective intelligence (GCI) and are of unprecedented importance if, as predicted, GCI can exponentially increase our capacity to understand systems.

As we explore in this Advisor, several strategies form the foundation of sound decision-making in turbulent environments. These strategies involve creating a culture of candor, encouraging constructive conflict, fostering disciplined experimentation, and making systematic reflection a habit in the organization.

Cutter contributor and data business leader Myles Suer set out to get some CIOs’ perspectives on the tech debt problem, what happened at Southwest, and what steps can be taken to get Southwest’s CEO (and CIO) off the collective hot seat. This Executive Update shares some insights gleaned from those conversations.

This Advisor explores the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems and other large language models for customer service and CX management. These systems are expected to significantly increase the ability of customer service platforms to provide detailed responses to customer service requests. Generative AI systems are also widely applicable for supporting and enhancing customer engagement as well.