Digital twins can create real business value, but only when companies start with a business problem, a measurable outcome, and a clear ROI case. A flashy model on its own is not enough.
Digital twins have had a very good run as a buzzword. They sound smart, they look impressive in demos, and they give innovation teams something futuristic to point at in a board presentation. The problem is that none of that automatically makes them useful.
That is really the point sitting underneath a recent Forbes Tech Council piece on digital twins. The visible takeaway is not that digital twins matter. Most business leaders already know that. The more useful takeaway is that excitement is easy, while measurable business value is harder.
As Forbes puts it:
“While pilot programs can spark early enthusiasm, turning those efforts into measurable business value takes clear goals, strong data and a practical starting point.“
That is probably the best starting point for thinking about digital twins in 2026. Because the companies that get real value from them will not be the ones with the flashiest virtual models. They will be the ones that start with a practical question: what decision, workflow, or cost problem is this actually meant to improve?
The Twin Itself is Not the Value
This concept is still tripping a lot of businesses up.
A digital twin is not valuable because it exists. It is valuable if it helps a company make a better decision, reduce a cost, improve an outcome, or avoid a problem earlier than it otherwise would.
McKinsey makes that point clearly, saying digital twins can increase visibility into real-time and predicted performance while helping optimize operations and development.
A better way to judge a digital twin project is to ask whether it helps the business do one of these things better:
- Reduce downtime
- Improve maintenance planning
- Test scenarios before expensive changes
- Increase asset visibility
- Speed up planning and decision-making
- Cut waste, risk, or avoidable cost
That is a less glamorous way to talk about digital twins, but it is a much more commercially useful one.
Why ROI Thinking Matters Early
This is why planning matters so much. Not planning in the abstract, but planning backwards from ROI. If the business case is vague at the start, it usually stays vague later. And when budgets tighten, vague projects are often the first to stall.
The upside can be real when the use case is right. McKinsey says digital twins have the potential to improve capital efficiency and operational performance in infrastructure settings by 20 to 30 percent. IBM, citing a 2025 Hexagon survey, says 92% of companies deploying digital twins reported returns above 10%, while more than half reported at least 20% ROI.
That does not mean every digital twin project is a winner. It means the category is capable of producing real value when companies know what they are trying to get from it.
The businesses that win will plan backwards
That is probably the most useful mindset shift for 2026. The digital twin itself is not the point. The point is whether it helps the business run better, plan better, or spend smarter.
The businesses that get this right will not be the ones with the most visually impressive models, they’ll be the ones disciplined enough to start with the business case and let the technology follow.
