A new era of computing is changing the IT landscape, says Michael Rhodin, senior VP of IBM's software solutions group, bringing business outcomes that are insight-driven and integrated solutions that are more intelligent.
Rhodin was speaking at the IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference, in New Orleans, yesterday, on the creation of new markets in a high-pressure commercial environment. “Smarter planet is built on the observation that technology is going to enable us to literally change the way the world works; it's based on the observation that a pattern exists that could redefine how solutions are built and how they change the dynamics of the industry,” said Rhodin.
This involved the instrumentation of the physical and virtual worlds to give the insights necessary to drive better business choices, he explained.
“We are weaving intelligence into the fabric of enterprise processes to help clients build smarter businesses. Our clients face complex enterprise challenges - they don't care about the technology delivering the solution - they want the business outcome.”
Rhodin argued the traditional way of building applications is no longer competitive, and they'll be difficult to sell if they don't have analytics built in, because humans can't deal with the growing levels of complexity by themselves anymore.
All things new
In line with this, IBM is making new markets and reaching out to new buyers by applying IT to new domains, he added. These emerging markets include business analytics and optimisation, smarter commerce, smarter cities, social business, and Watson solutions.
The idea of more intelligent analytics underpins several of these markets, including smarter cities, which Rhodin describes as a “system of systems”.
“It's a complex area traditionally underserved by IT. Yet putting all these systems' data together can give the mayor or city planner far better insight and decision-making abilities,” he added.
“We see the same pattern of interconnecting data and making it visible, whether it's in the enterprise or sensors on a manhole cover. This pattern is going to repeat itself in every single solution space going forward.”
The market opportunities for these areas add up to close to $300 billion, said Rhodin, with even the savings being realised with Watson solutions now beginning to run into the billions.
“Business analytics and optimisation is changing from a vertical to a horizontal application, becoming embedded in everything we do,” Rhodin noted, adding that the influence of social media was making this all the more important.
Social speak
Social networking accounts for 22% of all online time and consumers now have more information at their fingertips than ever before, he pointed out. Because consumers are the power players, businesses will have to change the way they operate, and IBM hopes to help clients understand what's going on in their businesses.
“You have to be part of the community, you can't just show up and start pushing stuff at people,” said Rhodin. “It's become about an influence sell rather than a direct sell.”
He added that powerful new forces are compelling clients to rethink how they connect and collaborate. Incorporating social networking into business processes, in the field of HR, for example, could unleash a whole new wave of solutions, said Rhodin.
With this in mind, IBM yesterday announced the expansion of a global skills initiative to educate clients and business partners on social media tools and create new business opportunities. IBM is further investing in its customers and partners, including in emerging markets such as China, Australia and Saudi Arabia, to develop skills that will enable them to sharpen their social networking capabilities to build stronger and more interactive ties with their clients.
From determination to prediction
Finally, Watson solutions mark the next-generation analytics systems that will fundamentally change the way we live and work in future, said Rhodin. This evolution of technology will see a shift from an era of deterministic computing to probabilistic computing, he added.
“This next generation of systems will understand natural language use and learn when it does something well and when it makes a mistake.” This could have major impacts in fields like the medical industry, he added.
“It will be able to generate hypotheses and come back and say, not necessarily that this person has cancer, but that based on all the available data and medical evidence, these are the top five things it could be. The doctor could then have a conversation with the system on what further information is needed to make a more accurate diagnosis.”
All these emerging markets promise to bring profound shifts in how people and enterprises understand their world. But if the landscape is more complex than ever before, then so are the sense-making systems we're developing to deal with it, is IBM's message.
To join in the conversation around IBM's Social Media Boot Camps, visit LinkedIn.
(Lezette Engelbrecht is hosted in New Orleans by IBM SA.)
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