Data Backup Digest

Perhaps best known as the machine that was used in a trivia competition against real human opponents on the hit television game show Jeopardy, Watson actually has a use outside of answering questions. Built on a natural language processing platform with a highly advanced, machine-based learning system, enterprise leaders have begun using the power of Watson in order to strengthen data analytics throughout their entire organization. Although results have been mixed, many organizations have seen increased productivity, larger profit margins and greater overall operational efficiency.

What Can Watson Do for Your Company?

According to IBM's official webpage, Watson is able to answer critical customer questions, extract and collate information from various documents and identify trends, patterns and relationships within the data your company generates. This lets organizational leaders make key business decisions that are better informed, more accurate and easy to monitor.

Targeting Specific Industries

Although Watson's analytics can be beneficial in nearly any industry, IBM seems to be targeted specific industries with their initial campaign to promote and implement the new technology. Watson Health, a division of IBM that is focused solely on the sector of healthcare IT, recently acquired Truven Health Analytics out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Once this deal has been finalized, Watson Health will be considered amongst the largest repositories of healthcare data and information in the entire world.

They've also been targeting the travel and transportation industries. With their recent showcase at SXSW 2016, a popular music and arts festival in Austin, Texas, highlighted some specific cases and examples where Watson's analytics have already been used in the areas of travel and transportation.

Dee Waddell, general manager of global travel and transportation with IBM, spoke at SXSW 2016. He was quoted as saying: " Companies are realizing they need to start acting in a more agile fashion because they’re seeing data as a new natural resource. That’s happening at every intersection of travel and transportation. Currently, it’s estimated there’s 2.5 quintillion bytes of data produced daily, and about 80% of that is unstructured, typically making it invisible to current technology."

Waddell went on to speak further about the technology while trying to stress the fact that Watson is a cognitive system that not only collects, stores and processes data, but one that is capable of digesting, understanding and even learning from this information. He said: " Cognitive, which intertwines with Watson, is really about the opportunity to fundamentally transform our travel and transportation industry. Cognitive is really about a new era, with data and digital as a foundation. So the key message here is we’re really in a time of unmatched disruption with lots of stress and anxiety about how to deal with the pace of innovation. That’s what’s on the top of mind for C-suite executives today.

Finding Out More

If you are interested in finding out more information about IBM's Watson analytical capabilities, either out of sheer curiosity or in consideration of putting Watson to work for your own company, please visit the official web portal at www.ibm.com/analytics/watson-analytics.