A recent study done by IBM reveals customer experience, innovation and employee effectiveness are top of mind for CEOs and CIOs.
Debbie Botha, senior managing consultant at IBM, says this is one of the key reasons why Watson, which the company describes as "a cognitive system that enables a new partnership between people and computers that enhances and scales human expertise", is so relevant.
"On a strategic level, Watson will enable customers to engage with a new type of consumer to drive an exceptional relationship, to exceed the expectations of the customers. On a more tactical level, it can dramatically reduce the cost of delivering customer support," she says.
Botha will deliver a presentation: "Watson, please advise... how to turn insight into profit using your call centre" at the ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit 2015, which will take place in Johannesburg this week.
"Statistics tell us hundreds of billions of calls are being made in a year, and only half of these calls have been resolved. The research behind these statistics also tells us that most of the unresolved calls could have been resolved if the relevant information was available.
"Having, on average, only half of calls resolved points to two serious business pains, namely unsatisfied customers and frustrated or overwhelmed call centre agents. It also results in costly operational efficiency problems, call centre agent churn and loss in revenue because of customer churn," Botha states.
In the world of computing, Botha says, the industry has moved from a single purpose calculation era, to a programmable systems era, and is now entering the cognitive computing era.
"Currently, companies that are information-driven, that truly have information entrenched in every decision-making process, have a competitive advantage. With cognitive computing, you have an information expert in the relevant field of expertise next to every person or process that needs the information. The early adapting companies that start using these solutions as part of their strategy now will truly set themselves apart from their competitors.
"The IBM Watson Ecosystem is growing fast and there are already more than 4 000 companies in the pipeline," she says.
Botha will be joined by other subject matter experts at the 10th annual BI event from ITWeb, which features over 30 presentations, various local case studies, tailored tracks, two interactive workshops and an expo featuring the latest in tools and technologies.
Click here to find out more about this 10th annual BI event from ITWeb, and to register.
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