Forces Shaping Cognitive Computing
Cognitive computing has the power to accelerate, enhance and scale human expertise. According to IBM, these six factors – society, technology, perception, information, policy and skills – are shaping how the technology advances. Below is a brief summary of each factor:
Society – consumers will continue to demand more intelligent machines and it is expected that mobile device use will continue to grow. These two trends will allow society as a whole to gain more familiarity and comfort with cognitive systems.
Technology – leading experts agree that current architecture must advance to take full advantage of cognitive computing. So far technology advances such as natural language processing and deep-learning coupled with more robust data from IoT devices has made strides in providing better input and output opportunities for cognitive systems.
Perception – continued education about the value of cognitive computing, grounded in reality, is necessary to keep interest and funding.
Information – With the explosion in digital data, it is getting harder and harder to keep pace with the volume and velocity without technology such as cognitive computing. IDC predicts that the digital universe will reach 40 zettabytes by 2020 which will further drive the advancement of cognitive capabilities.
Policy – as more entities adopt the technology, policies around data sharing, data privacy, data security and decision making will also need to be revised and reapplied.
Skills – a skilled work-force is recognized as a top challenge by industry leaders. Currently, the skills needed to advance the technology are limited. The supply of skilled workers is low and more are needed to not only put cognitive systems in place but to also produce actionable results.
If you would like to read in more depth about the factors affecting cognitive computing growth, please check out this white paper by IBM: Your Cognitive Future, How Next-Gen Computing Changes the Way We Live and Work.
