Paier: Clients are quick to adopt cognitive business solutions

Paier: Clients are quick to adopt cognitive business solutions

We believe that by 2025 cognitive will generate a worldwide market worth approximately $2 trillion, said in the interview for ICTbusiness.biz Michael Paier, IBM GM SEE. In his opinion, the acceleration towards the cognitive era these days is driven by the explosion of data and the increase of our abilities in learning from it.

What are the latest trends in cognitive computing and could?

IBM has a heritage in developing computer simulations of human processes, so our cognitive computing journey began almost twenty years ago. The acceleration towards the cognitive era these days is driven by the explosion of data and the increase of our abilities in learning from it. This year the volume of digital data on the planet is expected to reach one zettabyte - this means the information in all books worldwide multiplied by 30 million. Imagine the potential if computer systems will be able to recognize patterns and connections in all kinds of data. We believe that by 2025 cognitive will generate a worldwide market worth approximately $2 trillion. It is a huge opportunity which is why cognitive business solutions of the future will not refer to a specific product or a single vendor.

What about IBM in South East Europe?

Cognitive clearly resonates in the region and clients are quick to adopt cognitive business solutions. For example, just recently a leading retailer from the region has begun its cognitive journey with IBM to be able to engage clients better. We are in discussions with many more clients. Another important element of this journey is that clients are now very proactively looking for cloud solutions - i.e. they look at the cloud - especially hybrid cloud solutions in two main way - cloud as a delivery platform and cloud as a solution. It is natural to talk cloud when we talk cognitive and vice versa as cloud, and cognitive go together because they add more value when used together. For example, earlier this quarter we closed a significant contract with a completely new client who moved their entire online trading platform onto IBM Cloud, securing its future growth and its journey into cognitive in the increasingly competitive and complex financial services market.

What are users/customers’ expectations? What are they looking for?

Clients always want the best solution possible, i.e. they want knowledge of technology and knowledge of their industry. What they need most, is to understand how technology works in the context of their business. Cognitive solutions help exactly that as they find new ways to process and understand massive volumes of data (including data that was previously invisible to systems) and turn it into a meaningful information and actionable insight.

Everybody is talking about the digital transformation which has become a buzzword. What is a digital transformation?

According to Gartner, digitalization is "the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities." Since 1936 - long before our competitors entered local markets - IBM’s technologies and expertise have been doing exactly that across SEE - supporting the digitalization that paving region’s progress - from e-government projects - like the ones you are familiar with in Croatia, trough financial and tax systems, education, healthcare, commerce, smarter cities, etc. As important as “becoming digital“ was and is to our clients, it is now clear that digitalization is not the destination. Rather, when digital intelligence is being infused into automated digital processes, cognition happens, helping digital things learn and turning computer systems from an enabler for better efficiency and effectiveness to a trusted business advisor.

What trends do you expect in 2017?

The three big shifts that are transforming our markets today will continue to do so also next year: data, cloud and mobility are driving the digitalization of data and processes, all underpinned by a strong need for security in the digital space. These trends will continue to diminish the divide between technical and non-technical companies and businesses until everyone eventually becomes digital. Then, it will be even clearer the differentiated value IBM can bring to its clients through its innovation, R&D capabilities, and cognitive business solutions.