The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital twins is driving a quiet yet fundamental revolution in asset management. While organizations have spent years working on digitization and data collection, a new phase is now emerging. With digital twins in asset management, data is no longer just recorded, but actively used to support better decision-making. Luuk van Kessel, digital expert at Deep Value, talks about the many benefits and opportunities for organizations.

Digital twins as a strategic testing environment

Luuk, can you explain what a digital twin is and what makes it so valuable?

“A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object, process, or system. This could be a building, a machine, a production line, or even a complete end-to-end process. This digital copy is fed with real-time data from the physical world, allowing behavior, performance, and changes to be monitored and analyzed in real time,” Luuk explains.

Digital twins serve as a safe testing environment. Luuk adds: “Organizations can monitor and optimize processes, simulate scenarios, and test decisions without creating risks for day-to-day operations. In addition, digital twins make it possible to predict maintenance needs and prevent failures. Whereas asset data used to be mainly used for retrospective reporting, it has now become a steering instrument for looking ahead and making better decisions.”

“See a digital twin as a playground for your strategy. A safe environment to test and learn, without impacting your organization.”

Why digital twins are making the difference in asset management right now

“IoT and digital twins are not new, but they are especially relevant now because many organizations have reached a certain level of data maturity,” Luuk says. “In recent years, organizations have mainly focused on gaining insight: collecting data in dashboards to understand performance and deviations. By now, data is available at multiple levels: from machines and installations to complete processes and value chains.”

According to Luuk, the real added value emerges when organizations take the next step. “When you no longer use data only to see what has happened, but explicitly connect it to your business strategy, the role of data changes. The difference is not in the visualization, but in the intention. A dashboard shows what has happened. A digital twin shows what is happening in real time and what is likely to happen next through simulations, directly linked to strategic goals.”

Concrete benefits of working with digital twins

“The greatest value of digital twins lies in decision-making,” Luuk explains. “In the past, decisions were made based on figures and manual reports, which often provided a distorted or incomplete picture. Digital twins connect data directly to the context of the process and the strategy. This makes decisions not only more accurate, but also predictive. Digital twins make it possible to identify bottlenecks in orders at an early stage, automatically detect payment blocks, and prevent downtime in production lines through predictive maintenance. Tasks that previously required a great deal of manual effort can now be handled faster and more consistently.”

Key benefits in daily practice:

• Cost savings through more efficient maintenance
• Better predictability of performance
• Faster innovation through simulations
• Less downtime and fewer operational risks

The importance of integration with systems such as IFS

“A digital twin only becomes truly valuable when data, systems, and processes come together. Sensor information that remains disconnected from maintenance planning, ERP, or asset management systems is limited to insight without action. By integrating digital twins with systems such as IFS, insights can be translated directly into maintenance, planning, and decision-making. This is also Eqeep’s vision: not the best standalone system, but the coherence between data, processes, and decisions takes center stage.”

Is real-time IoT data always required for a digital twin?

“This is not an absolute requirement,” Luuk says. “For machines, continuous monitoring is often essential, but for processes, what matters most is status changes. Think of an order moving to a new phase, a change in composition, or a deviation in planning. IoT offers a lot of flexibility here: from continuous measurements to sensors that only ‘wake up’ when relevant changes occur.”

How should organizations start with digital twins, and what is the biggest challenge?

“For organizations that want to start with digital twins, the advice is simple: don’t start with technology, start with the business strategy,” Luuk explains. “First determine at which level a digital twin can create the most value: machine, asset, system, or process. Start small with a proof of value and scale up from there.”

Although digital twins may seem technology-driven, the biggest challenge often lies within the organization itself. Luuk says: “Sharpening the strategy, making processes explicit, and documenting assumptions requires time and collaboration. A digital twin does not need to be complete or perfect from day one. By working with it, testing it, and adjusting it, the digital twin evolves together with the organization. This not only helps optimize processes, but also helps refine the strategy itself.”

How to deal with resistance within the organization

“Resistance often arises when automation feels like a loss of control or when employees fear their role will disappear,” Luuk explains. “But in practice, the opposite happens. Work shifts from reactive firefighting to steering on quality, improvement, and predictability. AI is not good at determining what truly matters, so human input remains essential. Digital twins therefore do not replace people, but support them in making better decisions based on insight and context.”

The role of IoT and digital twins in sustainability and the future

Luuk says: “IoT and digital twins are indispensable for sustainable asset management and achieving ESG goals. By designing processes in a smarter, data-driven way, organizations can prevent waste. Not only of materials and energy, but also of human capacity. Manual corrections and inefficient processes often cost organizations several FTEs without them even realizing it. Capacity that could be used much better for innovation, sustainability, and future-proofing assets. Digital twins make that waste visible and manageable, turning sustainability from an abstract goal into a concrete part of daily decision-making.”

“By organizing processes more intelligently and in a data-driven way, you prevent waste. Not only of materials and energy, but also of human capacity.”

What makes asset management truly successful according to Eqeep?

“At Eqeep, we believe success in service and asset management is not about the newest platform or the largest amount of data,” Luuk says. “It is about reliable assets, supported by the right information at the right time. Only then can an organization perform consistently, build customer trust, and grow sustainably. IoT and digital twins are not goals in themselves, but tools for making better, well-founded decisions. Decisions that directly contribute to continuity, predictability, and future-proof assets.”

Curious what IoT and digital twins could mean for your organization?

Get in touch with us for an exploratory conversation. We would be happy to tell you more about the possibilities and our approach. Not ready for a deep-dive yet but enjoy a bit of inspiration from time to time? Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page or follow us on LinkedIn.