Weekly Watson: A Peddler at Its Core
December 11, 2015
I read “IBM’s Watson Is Now in the Marketing and E Commerce Business.” My initial reaction is the IBM is trying to generate revenue from its massive Watson “product.” Watson is home brew scripts, acquired technology, and open source software. Instead I learned that Watson itself is a smart marketer able to help a company generate oodles of revenue.
The write up points out with nary a raised eyebrow:
IBM gives the example of an online fitness retailer who might find that a newly launched line of active wear is underperforming sales expectations. So the retailer asks Watson to drill down and find out why. Watson displays results that show that although mobile traffic is high, it’s only strong in a handful of locations. As a result, the retailer could offer a discount in the identified underperforming areas.
My question, “Has the Watson system been used by IBM?” If the answer is, “Yes,” I would like some specifics. The best case is the experience of the company manufacturing the product. Someone told me that the old Microsoft called this “eating one’s dog food.”
The write up also offered:
Pete Wharton, Commerce Solutions Product Marketing Leader, noted that users of the IBM e-commerce platform can employ Commerce Insights without asking for Watson’s help. But, he said, “if you do, you can ask in natural language and Watson can understand the data and make predictive suggestions.”
IBM has tallied more than a dozen consecutive quarters of decreasing revenue. If IBM has such a powerful, smart system, why isn’t IBM reporting revenue growth?
The write up included a quote from an IBM expert. I highlighted this in red ink red highlighter:
Wharton [IBM expert] said that while many analytics solutions are employing machine learning to continually improve their performance, Commerce Insights with Watson lets a user see the data in context and take immediate action on the WebSphere platform in response. He also noted that Watson’s cognitive ability gives it a unique ability to “reason, learn and understand.” At some point, he predicted, systems will be able to implement their own recommendations. If discount coupons need to be offered in specific markets, he said, the system will do so within set limits, so that marketers and business managers can “focus on strategic problems.”
IBM obviously does not have a problem with pitching IBM as a marketing system when IBM’s own revenues are flagging. There is a proverb my grandmother repeated about shoemaker’s children. IBM has transformed the shoemaker’s children who have lousy shoes into the progeny of Watson.
Talk, it seems, is easier than making Watson into a billion dollar shoe factory.
Stephen E Arnold, December 11, 2015
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