Remember Deep Blue, the IBM computer that played chess champion Garry Kasparov in the 1990s? His just-as-smart younger cousin, Watson, became a media darling in 2011 when he challenged Jeopardy legends Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, beating both of these highest-winning champions. Deep Blue is but a distant memory now, filed in the IBM historical archives, and Watson, named after IBM Founder, Thomas J. Watson, has moved on from games shows.
Watson is now available for Big Data analytics and here’s the best thing about his services for the moment – they’re mostly free, currently charging only for complex data analysis. IBM wants to reach the masses, hence the freemium pricing structure and easy access. Billed as a model for the everyday business person, not necessarily a researcher or analyst, it promises to use real language and logical algorithms to come up with targeted business solutions. Here’s more good news – marketing and sales are two of the areas where it excels.
So, if you struggle with analyzing data or don’t know what to do with all those numbers, spreadsheets and charts, Watson deserves a closer look. We will do our own review of it and get back to you in a future post about its effectiveness. If you’ve tried Watson, please share your thoughts.
For more insight about Big Data, listen to the Small Business Big Data Intervention featuring Nancy L. Hohns on The Marketing Mojo Show. In this clip, she talks about gut instinct vs. Big Data.
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Leisa Chester Weir