New Fujitsu framework Sholark accelerates transformation of business processes with AI, data analytics

Issued by CoCre8
Munich, 08 Nov 2018

News facts:

* Fujitsu's new AI and data analytics framework Sholark accelerates the deployment of sophisticated intelligent solutions to automate business processes and deliver insights from unstructured data.
* The new framework presents significant opportunities for legal discovery, analysis of potential security threats and support for medical diagnoses.
* The user-friendly interface allows even non-technical employees to easily extract insights from multiple data sources.

Fujitsu is making it easier for businesses to accelerate their digital transformation processes by connecting artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and business decision-making using its powerful new Sholark framework.

This framework significantly accelerates the deployment of complex AI projects[1], and its ease of use means even non-technical employees can leverage it to support decision-making.

A powerful assistive tool, Fujitsu Sholark bridges the gap between data and the end-user. Users can easily query the system via its user-friendly Web-based interface, enabling the mainstream use of AI, and allowing non-technical employees to answer complex questions related to their businesses[2]. It also simplifies the automation of information management tasks that are repetitive, lengthy and add little value, for example, the time-consuming and tedious elements of data entry.

The Sholark framework processes large volumes of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data in real-time, including multiple different sources from social networks, to databases, voice, video or images. It can also be used to easily deploy machine learning to intelligently automate processes, and utilises semantic intelligence capabilities to find connections and to deliver meaningful insights to support decision-making.

Use cases

The legal profession is an example of a use case where Sholark could be used to improve the efficiency of the discovery process traditionally undertaken by lawyers. Automating tasks results in a 60% decrease in time required to manually classify and search results. The technology can also be deployed to speed up crime and threat investigation, by the automatic collection of unstructured information such as internal and external data sources, including police records or important public events, both accelerating investigations and improving their accuracy.

By using Sholark, police forces can increase the number of simultaneous investigations by more than 40% without increasing manpower. Healthcare is another potential application, as Sholark incorporates HIKARI technologies developed by Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe to process patient records, assisting doctors to answer relevant clinical questions about their patients[3].

Businesses want to retain control over data analytics processes and to have full visibility over them, consequently, Fujitsu Sholark is based on open source technologies. It is also designed to be modular, enabling customers to include additional open source capabilities, depending on their requirements. Furthermore, the solution can be easily integrated with existing software or connected with legacy data warehouse systems.

Albert Mercadal, Head of Advanced Analytics and Big Data at Fujitsu in EMEIA, comments: "The true power of Sholark is that, unlike most types of artificial intelligence, it does not require expert users. Any employee can learn to operate it and discover links between unrelated sources of information. It can recognise context and make intelligent connections from content far faster and more effectively than any manual process. This eliminates time-consuming and tedious elements of data entry, and accelerates discovery of the most relevant information. As a result, businesses can focus more time on value-adding tasks, or can undertake many more daily operations tasks in the same amount of time."

Pricing and availability

The Fujitsu Sholark artificial intelligence and data analytics framework is available immediately to customers in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, directly from Fujitsu. Pricing varies depending on country and configuration.

[1] The Fujitsu Sholark framework allows complex AI systems to be delivered within months instead of years. Projects are typically handled within Fujitsu's co-creation process that sees Fujitsu experts work alongside customers to define business challenges and to devise the most appropriate solution.
[2] Thanks to its modularity, Fujitsu Sholark can be easily adapted to the specific needs of different businesses, data volumes and sources. The application follows strict security standards that guarantee the protection of the data and is able to integrate with the existing customers' authentications and authorisation mechanisms. Furthermore, Sholark can be deployed on public/private clouds or in traditional on-premises environments.
[3] Press release: Fujitsu's Human-Centric AI helps enable faster, improved clinical decision-making http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/resources/news/press-releases/2016/emeai-03112016-fujitsu-enables-faster-improved-clinical.html

Online resources

* Read the Fujitsu blog: http://blog.ts.fujitsu.com
* Follow Fujitsu on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Fujitsu_Global
* Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/fujitsu
* Find Fujitsu on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FujitsuICT
* Fujitsu pictures and media server: http://mediaportal.ts.fujitsu.com/pages/portal.php
* For regular news updates, bookmark the Fujitsu newsroom: http://ts.fujitsu.com/ps2/nr/index.aspx

Fujitsu South Africa

The evolving nature of every business means changes, enhancements and upgrades to its data centre infrastructure. Businesses are finding data centre upgrades to be not only disruptive, but also costly. There is a constant need to retrain and re-skill data centre staff in order to effectively manage applications while ensuring data availability, security and energy consumption optimisation. Not to mention maintaining compliance and service level agreements.

Fujitsu South Africa's approach to servers, mainframes, storage and integrated systems offers the flexibility to tailor data centre technologies to its customers' specific requirements. It provides the benefits of secure, robust, future-proofed technologies from a single source supported by a unique, consultative approach. This ensures you get exactly what your organisation demands, bringing true business value to companies.

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Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese ICT company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 140 000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. Fujitsu uses its experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with its customers. Fujitsu (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.1 trillion yen (US $39 billion) for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2018. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

Fujitsu EMEIA

Fujitsu promotes a Human Centric Intelligent Society, in which innovation is driven by the integration of people, information and infrastructure. In the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region (EMEIA), Fujitsu's 27 000-strong workforce is committed to Digital Co-creation, blending business expertise with digital technology and creating new value with ecosystem partners and customers. Fujitsu enables its customers to digitally transform with connected technology services, focused on artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, and cloud, all underpinned by security. For more information, please visit http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/.

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