Forefront of technology: Using PwC’s Social Implementation Sprint Service to quickly perform verification testing for the social implementation of technology.
2023-04-27
Agile development is characterised by repeatedly carrying out development processes such as planning, design, implementation and testing in small functional cycles, but does not, by definition, encompass all stages from the creation of business ideas to their implementation in actual society. This article introduces the Social Implementation Sprint Service provided by PwC Consulting LLC (hereinafter, PwC Consulting), the differences between this service and agile development, the need for field sites to conduct engineering verification as part of this service, an actual case study using this service and methods of information sharing used for this service.
What is PwC Consulting’s Social Implementation Sprint Service?
The Social Implementation Sprint Service is a social implementation method developed and provided by PwC Consulting that helps clients rapidly implement business ideas from creation to implementation in actual society using an agile approach, including the following four steps:
- Create business ideas
- Develop minimum viable product (MVP)
- Proof of concept (PoC)
- Formulate a business plan
Differences between the Social Implementation Sprint Service and agile development
Our Social Implementation Sprint Service is similar to agile development, which is commonly used, for example, in system development. However, the biggest feature of agile development is that the development process from planning to design, implementation, and testing is repeated in small cycles of functional units, which do not necessarily include the following:
- Creation of business ideas
- PoC
- Formulation of a business plan
The Social Implementation Sprint Service is a social implementation method designed to compensate for the above three steps that are not included by definition in agile development. This service is provided by a ‘scrum team’ as shown in the diagram below.
The need for field sites to conduct engineering verification as part of the Social Implementation Sprint Service
The engineers of PwC Consulting’s engineering organisation are responsible for developing the MVPs for Social Implementation Sprint projects, utilising the state-of-the-art equipment installed at the Technology Laboratory site as shown in the diagram above. The Technology Laboratory, a research facility for three-dimensional (3D) spatial information, not only has 3D point clouds and mesh data for the entire site, but also a digital twin with devices to connect the digital and real worlds, enabling the acquisition of data and verification of MVPs for a variety of environments, such as
- Linkage of internal and external 3D spatial information using the entrance to the Technology Laboratory, which is on the first floor, as a base point
- The use of LiDAR SLAM, for example, which cannot be positioned properly in mirrors or glass-fronted rooms onsite
- 3D evacuation simulation using the staircase in the Technology Laboratory
The following list is an example of the equipment installed at the Technology Laboratory, which consists of a wide variety of technologies and devices to meet needs associated with solving various social issues. Our engineers demonstrate the MVPs we have developed to visitors to the Technology Laboratory and share information with stakeholders in order to implement the following skills and technologies:
- 3D spatial reality display
- Hemispheric display/motion-based
- Outdoor/indoor drones
- Industrial/land-based robots
- Mixed reality goggles
- Virtual reality goggles
- Industrial/personal 3D printers
- Haptic devices
A digital twin design and implementation package to help people change their behaviour in accordance with changes to a disaster situation
A design and implementation package can utilise a digital twin to enable users to ‘experience’ crisis situations in a virtual space and use those user experiences as feedback to the real world for effective countermeasures in the event of a disaster. This package incorporates the Social Implementation Sprint Service approach and the aforementioned social implementation method to accomplish the following, which will be explained in detail below:
- Perceive risk: Create business ideas
- Learn means of evacuation: Develop an MVP and PoC
- Lead evacuation behaviour: Formulate a business plan
Perceive risk: Create business ideas
Business ideas are created by building a continuous simulation of a digital twin in a short period of time, utilising equipment and a game engine installed at the Technology Laboratory. As well as applying sensor-acquired data to the digital twin, disasters can also be generated virtually; the fire on the left side of the image above was generated on the digital twin's management screen by tapping at a point on the floor of the Technology Laboratory.
Learn means of evacuation: Develop an MVP and PoC
As PoCs focus on the experience rather than the accuracy of the technology, the MVP for this package uses 3D data with a tactile feel rather than 2D. The yellow 3D evacuation route in the image above is automatically calculated in real-time to avoid fires on the simulator, and is displayed on mixed reality (MR) goggles as a drone leads the way to the exit, allowing the user to learn how to evacuate in three dimensions like never before.
Lead evacuation behaviour: Formulate a business plan
A business plan is formulated based on the digital twin data described in the above section, with the aim of social implementation through feedback to the real world. The image above is for drones, but the technology can also be used for land-based robots.
The digital twin design and implementation package to help people change their behaviour in accordance with changes to a disaster situation has now grown to the point where evacuation drills can be conducted in the client's environment to learn automatically generated evacuation routes and instructional guidance based on 3D scanned data. In addition, this package has already been devised to automate the processes from acquisition of 3D point clouds to mesh generation, labelling, route generation, and position synchronisation with actual equipment, and we have applied for a patent.
Information sharing methods used for the Social Implementation Sprint Service
Since our Social Implementation Sprint Service focuses on social implementation, we also put a lot of effort into information collaboration. We would like to introduce the following three methods of information collaboration to PwC Consulting.
- Presentations within engineering organisations
- Global accelerator community
- Global newsletter
Presentations within engineering organisations
Presentations within engineering organisations are a medium in which one engineer presents a project or topic to an engineering organisation approximately once a month. These presentations also serve as a review before we post the information to our external-facing Technology Blog, which we update in response to feedback from the audience to repeatedly improve the business plan and technical relevance. Presenters include not only Japan-based engineering organisations, but also engineers from outside the country with whom we work closely.
Global accelerator community
The global accelerator community is a chat space divided by sector and project, and is a medium through which information can be exchanged with domestic and international professionals within PwC’s global network. We mainly use it for the following purposes.
- Receiving: We respond as much as possible to consultations on field-specific projects from PwC staff from around the world, leading to the acquisition of projects. We ensure the confidentiality of the projects by using email and video chat instead of chat spaces for detailed information.
- Sending: We share information on the MVPs we have developed and ask about the needs of each country, with a view to the international standardisation of technologies related to spatial information.
Global newsletter
Our global newsletter is a medium through which domestic and international professionals working in various fields within PwC’s global network send out emails to their offices around the world. When one of the authors visited London in October 2022, an email related to the recent hot topic of the metaverse was being sent out as PwC Global Metaverse News, so he made contact with the PwC UK professionals who were in charge of the project, and was able to visit the PwC London office and subsequently collaborate with PwC UK. Currently, we are working on the transmission side, as well as the aforementioned global accelerator community, to acquire overseas projects and work towards the international standardisation of technologies related to spatial information.
In this article, we introduced the example, a digital twin design and implementation package to help people change their behaviour in accordance with changes in a disaster situation, and our unique methods of information collaboration in accordance with the Social Implementation Sprint Service philosophy. To meet the needs of our clients, we will continue to develop tactile prototypes using the latest equipment and technology at our research facilities together with professionals from the PwC global network’s overseas offices. If you are interested in working with us, please contact us.
Authors
S. Yanagisawa
Before joining PwC Consulting LLC, Satoshi Yanagisawa worked as an AR app developer for a specialised AR and AI solution development company and as an XR research engineer for a mega-venture company. He is also a special lecturer at a fashion school. He has strengths in the field of XR, especially in AR, planning, research, PoC, and service development utilising smart glasses and VR devices and has most recently been involved in R&D related to 3D spatial information and the metaverse.
T. Nagashima
Takayuki Nagashima joined PwC Consulting in 2012 after working for a major system integration company. He has a wide range of experience, having been engaged in consulting work in the IT/digital domain for more than a decade, including IT/digital strategy development, data strategy development, governance development, roadmap development, system development, PgMO/PMO in large-scale system construction, PMI, BCP and business reform. In recent years, he has mainly provided consulting services for the planning and full-scale development of new businesses utilising advanced technologies such as the metaverse, XR, IoT and digital twins and blockchain.
