Fueling Growth through Technology

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The cloud has not only made computational power more accessible and affordable than ever before, but also made the application of AI to data a reality. Pioneering technologies like blockchain and quantum computing are fast becoming viable before our eyes.But these smart tools won’t count unless they can be applied to our businesses and industries, our schools and stores, to farms and pharmacology, to our banks and energy grids. Smart doesn’t matter until it’s put to work where it matters.

Applying smart technology takes expertise in industry, in regulations and workflows, in enterprise-grade security. It might not be the most glamorous work — among the nuts and bolts of manufacturing, amid the paper trails of supply chains or the underbelly of the stock exchange — but, if together, we can put smart to work we can change how businesses, industries, and so the world, works.

Why Now?

We can expect huge changes in 2018. The expansion of WLAN networks will allow much larger data packages to be processed and at a faster rate. This will make it possible to connect multiple access points online, as well as a seamless integration of AI, blockchain and similar cognitive technologies. We will be able to gather millions of data points, analyze them, and act on them within seconds.

British Telecom (BT) has recently launched an exclusive cloud service based on IBM’s cloud platform to enhance the adoption of AI, IoT, blockchain, data and analytics capabilities. The service has been named named BT Cloud Connect Direct for IBM. It provides global businesses direct access to IBM Cloud via the BT network with a global reach spanning 198 countries and territories. This platform makes it possible for clients to access such as including compute, network and storage infrastructure.

We’ve barely started tapping into the full potential of these technologies, and when combined, their transformative effect will be tremendous. According to Gartner, there are only 10 percent IoT projects at the enterprise level that currently have an AI component, but by 2022, this will rise to 80 percent.

The Power of Convergence

Thanks to Apple, Google and others, we’ve recently started using voice assistants to ask questions, search online and even shop. What if the roles were reversed? Imagine household sensors taking note of our consumption and AI letting us know when we’re running out of coffee. It will ask us if we want to buy some and then go ahead and do just that when we verbally confirm. And this whole series of events is recorded using blockchain. The same scenario can be played out in enterprise level supply chains.

Healthcare is a key focus area for IBM and here’s an insight into a path breaking initiative. Leading hospital chain, Manipal Hospitals has deployed IBM Watson for Oncology, a cognitive computing platform, to provide information and insights to physicians to help them identify personalized, evidence-based cancer care options across India. Oncologists can access IBM Watson for Oncology for patients with breast, colorectal and lung cancer. The introduction of Watson for Oncology will be a game changer for cancer patients across the country. With Watson, Oncologists can make an informed treatment decisions for patients based on insights derived from the individuals’ unique health status, the latest medical research and other relevant data.

The key lies in turning data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into actionable insights.

Next is What?

In 2018, enterprises will be more open to adopting AI & Blockchain in larger projects.In 2017, financial services companies were conducting many pilots and experiments in cognitive computing and are now ready for larger production-ready projects. Legacy enterprises have realized that though they always had the advantage of more customer data, newer digital-savvy firms have been better at anchoring the insights from that data. And so we can expect a lot of AI workloads for processing enterprise data.

Touching Various Industries

The manufacturing industry is growing rapidly and is undergoing a digital transformation. Key players in the industry have realized that the path to future success is paved with blockchain, AI and IoT. As said earlier, data – such as factory floor humidity, equipment vibration, machine temperature, etc. – collected from connected products and services will drive success in future. All this data can be collected and analyzed in real-time for insights or critical actions such as preventing equipment failure. It is estimated there will be 30 billion connected devices in India by 2020 so it is important to create a platform, and an ecosystem, to manage this scale.

Honda Cars India tied up with IBM for ‘Honda Connect’, its connected car platform. IBM is helping Honda Cars to create value for the end customer. Honda will enhance its existing Honda Connect platform using IBM Cloud platform and offer newer features around convenience, service booking, history, and safety and security like trip analysis and locate car.

Titan Company Limited, India’s leading manufacturer of watches and other fine personal accessories, is working with IBM on their online platform, enabling the company to tailor online campaigns that are unique to their customers – not just taking into account preferences and past purchases, but also leveraging analytics to examine their real-time behavior (i.e. what items are being looked at most, what channels are customers buying through, why cart was abandoned, etc…), so campaigns can be tailored on the fly to help drive a purchase. For example, Titan can identify customers whose watch purchases in the past indicate contemporary fashion sensibilities and introduce deals on contemporary jewelry designs for these customers. They can not only customize the amount of the discount, but also where it should be delivered to – via email, mobile, etc. – all based on past behavior. Next, as the customer navigates the site, the retailer can identify other items that are grabbing their attention and respond with deals on each.

Godrej Interio, a business unit of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., has more than 50 exclusive furniture showrooms in top 20 cities and more than 800 dealer outlets across India. With the increase of urban buyers and rising disposable income in India, there is also the pressure to meet rising consumer demand for a seamless shopping experience, from store to mobile and digital channels. Godrej needed a well-integrated omni-channel commerce solution to help innovate the way they engage with each consumer, but also respond quickly to the latest trends and customer demands. IBM’s design thinking consulting and IBM Commerce capabilities will enable Godrej Interio to further augment customer engagement and experience across all its 3 brands (Godrej Interio, U&Us and a new lifestyle home furniture brand) to gain deeper customer insights by evaluating customers’ observations, ideas, and insights by their browsing behavior online and offline. Godrej Interio will use these insights to recommend home decor ideas. For example, a customer who is moving into a new home, can browse the entire furniture and home décor catalogue on the interactive online platform. The platform will then be able to recommend innovative designs and share special offers. The platform will also allow the customer to reserve the item, guide them to the nearest store location to buy or schedule a timeslot for home delivery. In addition, the platform will provide increased visibility of inventory, by helping the sales associate know which furniture items are in stock or alert suppliers early on when items are out of stock. This will help increase brand loyalty by delivering a seamless personalized shopping experience across store, mobile and social channels.

With an increase in innovation and rise in enterprise deployments, cognitive computing is being explored by a growing numbers of industries. By 2019, IDC predicts, IoT deployed data not supported by AI will have a limited value. There is much, much more that can be done by leveraging cognitive computing. The keyword here is augmentation and our vision is that smart, connected computing will continue to enable humans in skilled and manual tasks, also offering is context-sensitive insights.

You need to let your horizon expand and your mind stretch as you envision the combined impact of these cognitive computing technologies. So much is evolving rapidly and we need to wrap our heads around the possibilities and do so pretty fast, because the future is right upon us.

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