For years IBM's (NYSE: IBM) chatbot Watson has embedded itself in the public mind. Its distinctive voice has resounded in Super Bowl ads. It's even trounced the world's leading Jeopardy pros in matchups.
Now IBM aims to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) services like Watson into business-facing applications that could transform the company.
There's just one catch: while in a survey, IBM found that 3/4 of all businesses planned to integrate some form of artificial intelligence into their operations, 37% of them cited a "lack of expertise," as an impediment to implementation, according to Business Insider.
To amend this situation, IBM recently partnered with data analysis company Palantir (NYSE: PLTR). IBM's AI and Palantir's easy to use data analytics platforms will come together to help put services like Watson into the hands of the code illiterate masses. Due out next month, the software bundle has the rather protracted name of Palantir for IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
The service will target retail, industry, financials, healthcare, and telecommunications companies. Judging by IBM's press release, the service will empower these businesses to make AI-driven decisions and integrate their disparate databases. IBM's product information sheet cites a uniquely modern problem: businesses suffer from data overload, and this data then piles up into "silos."
Take financials, for example. According to IBM, many financial institutions suffer from data fragmentation due to mergers and acquisitions common to the industry. Cloud Pak would amend this situation by crystalizing data from different companies into a single accessible and easy to understand source. In a similar vein, in the healthcare industry, various providers store their data in different databases. By integrating these databases, Cloud Pak would facilitate better patient care decisions. In more fast past sectors like retail and manufacturing, IBM's AI suite will help companies adjust their supply chains to meet predictable patterns of supply and demand.
Palantir Chief Operations Officer Shyam Sankar said the partnership should speed up its long-term efforts to reach more businesses and expand its sales staff, according to Bloomberg News. The firm has struggled to diversify its customer base in the past, and it currently has only 30 members on its sales team. "This is the biggest [partnership] we've announced - expect more" Sankar told Bloomberg.
By bundling AI services like Watson with Palantir's easy to use app's, IBM will reach a whole new base of customers. IBM Senior VP of Software, Cloud and Data, Rob Thomas, expects partnerships, like those with Palantir, will account for at least half of all revenue IBM receives from its AI services. Something he described as a "pretty fundamental change for us," Bloomberg reports.
Cloud Pak's "low to no code environment" will potentially put AI into the hands of thousands of businesses. The service could become indispensable in fields like manufacturing, where employees struggle to comprehend a stream of endless data points emerging from an ever more byzantine supply chain.
Data overload is only going to increase as technology advances, and there is simply not enough brainpower to analyze it. So, perhaps IBM's Cloud Pak could change the world as much as their development of the PC?