In a Nutshell: Modelling and Simulation of Dynamic Systems

After 20+ years of modelling and simulation of dynamic systems, it's not clear to me why this technique is not used on a larger scale. Especially in a variety of companies that are trying to find a "comfortable place in wild market conditions". 

What does modelling and simulating mean and what are the benefits of it? (Please, bear in mind that this is a short text intended to popularise something I believe to be very useful. It would be impossible to go through every single detail of the subject without writing a book.)

Simply put: If you are able to model the behaviour of a specific system, then you should be able to observe this system through the dimension of time in different conditions. Consequently, you will be able to improve the present/physical system simply because you will know (after intensive simulations) what will fail or succeed.

It is fascinating how, by doing the upper, you actually become a time traveller. But you are able to travel not only to an ordinary future but also to a parallel possible/probable future. That is a magical opportunity, given to us by technology and applied mathematics. 

After Leibniz and Newton, and their establishment of mathematical analysis (differential and integral calculus), our civilisation suddenly jumped from a world of "yesterday" to a world of "tomorrow". This revolutionary mathematics made it possible to model something and calculate it to see what will happen. That way, technology drastically improved in the last couple of centuries. With the improvement of mathematical tools, there is less and less need for trial and error.

For example, in today's world, car makers design, make and drive cars in simulators, way before some of those models actually "see" the real roads. This way, development and production costs are cut drastically, organisational structure is improved, business processes are improved, marketing and quality of the product are mastered. They use simulations a lot. Most of other companies do not.

We live in a digital era. Information is all around us. A bunch of functional and organisational standards are applied. People use collaborative apps. Workflows or business intelligence applications are applied by many. Almost everything is well defined. You just need to dig into data (big, small, tiny - it doesn't matter) and documented processes and find what you did. Match it with "how you did it" plus the environment and you have an almost completely defined real/physical business/functional model. If you transfer this model to some available tools, you can simulate and observe.

Still, those who simulate are rare. Maybe because of a lack of courage. There is no reason not to become a part of this "fellowship of the brave". My intention with this short text is to encourage thinkers to go a step further. And to encourage managers to go a step further.

If the reason is lack of information, you can find at least one very good reference here.

Be courageous.

Simulate.

NOTE: Here is an excellent link:

 http://anylogic.com

It's fun. You can try it for free. At least take a look at examples. Who knows ...