Business executives around the world have embraced artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. According to an International Data Corporation guide, global spending on cognitive platforms will rise to more than $31 billion by 2019.

However, business executives need to prioritise their digital intelligence investments, a new study from the IBM Institute for Business Value notes.

According to the IBV research: Seventy three per cent of 6,000 executives surveyed globally said cognitive computing will play an important role in the future of their organisations; 50 per cent said they plan to adopt cognitive computing by 2019; and executives anticipate a 15 per cent return on investment from their cognitive initiatives.

The IBV recommends that organisations adopt a three-phase approach to building a cognitive-enabled digital strategy:

1 Envision the future: Business leaders should take advantage of cognitive capabilities to apply a strategy that includes both business and technology aspects for their organisations.

They could consider adopting an 18-to-24-month digital strategy with a limited set of initiatives. Such initiatives could draw upon resources from cross-functional teams, skill sets and partner ecosystems. 

2 Assess the market and users: After getting a cognitive strategy in place, with initiatives and an investment profile defined, organisations should focus on thorough and periodic assessments of the market and target users.

By using a centre of excellence, organisations can experiment to find new cognitive capabilities, such as the use of natural language processing or machine learning for large data consumption and analysis. This approach creates common use cases and applications.

3 Expand rapidly: During an organisation’s shift from planning and design to execution, businesses should rapidly explore and prototype new initiatives, which allows an organisation to align cognitive projects to measurable business objectives.

Such work pilots, however, should be designed with a limited risk to existing customers and operations.

Andrew Meme is hybrid cloud sales leader at IBM East Africa.