IBM Watson is getting closer to business and ordinary users

IBM introduces Watson Analytics , an innovative cognitive service that can understand natural languages ​​and provides continuous access to powerful predictive and visual analytics. According to research, only a small part of business users use analytics to make decisions. In turn, the Watson Analytics service provides the ability to simplify and conveniently work with predictive analytics tools for any categories of users.

The first version of Watson Analytics will be a shareware service compatible with desktop PCs and mobile devices. Watson Analytics offers a full range of analytics tools, including organizing convenient access to data refinement and storage services, thus allowing you to collect information and prepare reports in complex formats for subsequent analysis and visualization, as well as decision making and interaction.

IBM Watson Analytics understands natural languages ​​with a goal, making working with predictive analytics tools easier with the ability to answer key questions such as:

• What are the key drivers of my company's sales growth?
• What benefits will help to keep employees?
• What transactions are more likely to complete successfully?

Unlike solutions targeted at data processing specialists and professional analysts, IBM Watson Analytics allows you to automate primary data processing, predictive analytics and visualization, focusing on the tasks of specialists in the field of marketing, sales, operations, finance and HR.

Three key innovations greatly simplify Watson Analytics:

• A single analytical solution for the tasks of business users - Unlike modern analytics tools designed for specific types of data analysis, Watson Analytics provides a comprehensive set of cloud services. Users set a task, and Watson Analytics helps them determine the source of the data, complete the initial processing, collect valuable information, predict the results, visualize the data, create a report and share it with colleagues.
• Guided Predictive Analytics - Watson Analytics uses predictive analytics to automatically find the most relevant information, patterns, and relationships. This process entails new questions and conclusions, leading users to solving the most important business problems.
• Using a natural language that is understandable to users - Watson Analytics speaks the language of business and business users, you just need to indicate the desired result. Watson Analytics helps you understand why certain events have occurred or are likely to occur. All this information will be presented in terms familiar to the user. Interacting with analytical reports, users can adjust their queries in order to improve the final result of the work.

“The Watson Analytics service is designed to help salespeople and company executives identify key data and make informed decisions,” said Bob Picciano, Senior Vice President, Information and Analytics Group, IBM. “We help business users find the right answers to their questions, get the analytics that they need, and all this in the format they want.” The combination of Watson’s analytic capabilities and cognitive technologies, the powerful potential of big data and the provision of services in the cloud for PCs, smartphones and other devices is a real breakthrough in the field of analytics. ”

Thanks to Watson Analytics, business users get ongoing access to personalized business scenarios related to their role in the organization. Instead of trying to find the required information among huge data sets, testing various hypotheses, the user can focus on understanding and evaluating specific business tasks in order to effectively interact with interested parties.

Many analytics tools assume the presence of data that has undergone initial processing for further analysis, an idea of ​​what type of analytical information the user wants to receive, as well as skills and time to build an analysis model. However, many business users do not have such assets. Primary data processing may take up 50 percent or more of the time required to analyze the information. In turn, it is often difficult for business users to understand what type of data analysis will be suitable, and how to visualize the received information in the form of a report or diagram.

The Watson Analytics service provides analytics and data processing tools in the cloud. Like other IBM cloud solutions, it will be available in the SoftLayer environment, as well as through the IBM Cloud Marketplace. IBM also plans to make Watson Analytics services available in the IBM BlueMix environment to enable third-party developers to take full advantage of the service as they create new applications.

The Watson Analytics service will be available for beta testing in the next 30 days, and for shareware use from November 2014.