Can cognitive computing applications help your business?
What to know about cognitive computing technology.
Cognitive computing is a tech buzzword. Is it relevant to your business? Is it different from the kind of technology you’re already using?
Cognitive computing can certainly be a useful tool when it comes to analyzing data – to most businesses, data is everything, and using that data to further research, grow the market, or use it for insight into the customer experience is crucial.
Cognitive computing can also help to bring departments together. Each department often houses its own data set, but cognitive computing can help to bring this data together and analyze it for better holistic ideas for driving the business forward. These better insights can help businesses make smarter or faster decisions. In fact, most high-performing businesses pay some credit to their cognitive computing abilities for their success, including their ability to be agile and responsive, as well as their financial figures.
Cognitive Computing vs Artificial Intelligence
While there are many similarities between the methods of the two technologies, the provided outcome is very different. Both computing systems can learn and act based on provided input and experiences, remember past experiences, as well as adapt to new or unfamiliar data. Both cognitive computing applications and AI can analyze large sets of data, AI might provide a suggestion or course of action based on the algorithm-collected data, whereas cognitive computing technology might offer the user the relevant information to assist them in a decision. In short, cognitive computing tries to problem solve by reasoning, rather than strict analysis.
Cognitive Technology Applications
We know that AI is already being used to some degree by apps like the Amazon voice assistant Alexa or the Netflix and Amazon algorithms that suggest what you might want to buy or watch next. Cognitive computing tools are also being used in some fields already. Some of the industries that can benefit from this type of technology include:
- Finance and investment firms: Investment firms can use cognitive computing applications to analyze the market in specific ways for their clients, and work with the software to make valuable suggestions.
- Healthcare and veterinary medicine: With access to past patient records and a database of medical information, this kind of cognitive computing tool can allow a physician to interact with it and ask questions about treatment.
- Travel: Cognitive computing apps in travel could aggregate available travel information, like flight and resort prices and availability, and combine that with user preference, budget, etc., to help deliver a streamlined, custom travel experience that could save consumers time, money, or both.
- Health and wellness: With data input from wearable devices like a FitBit or Apple Watch, apps can help personal trainers and individuals get suggestions for how to change their diet or exercise program, or even how to manage their sleep and stress-reducing routines.
These cognitive computing examples are just some of the innovative ways that cognitive computing has been experimented with and could be expanded upon in the future.
Has your business become a “cognitive” business yet? What about other companies in your industry? Do you feel like having cognitive computer applications is essential in today’s business world?
