watsonx

watsonx

How Does watsonx Supercharge Your Digital Transformation?

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By Michael J. Hester, Master Data Architect – Information Management & Analytics 

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) is playing an increasingly important role in how forward-thinking organizations conduct their business. From improved customer interactions, to exploring and analyzing vast amounts of data (and much more), Generative AI makes it possible for organizations to move faster and act more decisively, ultimately enabling them to unlock an unprecedented amount of opportunity. This is exactly why it’s mission-critical for teams across every sector and industry to tap into the benefits that Generative AI can offer. 

IBM watsonx (watsonx) is an industry-defining, cloud-based Generative AI platform. It’s a customizable solution for companies looking to launch or refine any number of tasks and processes, from content generation to data access and software automation. watsonx is trusted by leading organizations around the world to help them extract as much value as possible out of their data. 

At Prolifics, we have a dedicated team of experts who are committed to delivering best-in-class Generative AI solutions to our global customers. As a Master Data Architect with decades of experience leveraging IBM technologies to amplify customer outcomes, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge that I apply daily to my work with watsonx. 

In this article, I’m reviewing three key ways that Prolifics + watsonx is uniquely positioned to support your team’s AI journey, and ensure that you get the most from this incredible technology. 

 

Elevate your approach to Generative AI with a trusted partner

1. Unparalleled experience:

Prolifics is an IBM North American, European and APAC Platinum business partner, and we’ve worked to optimize IBM solutions for decades. When IBM developed watsonx, Prolifics was chosen as an original beta customer, and many members of my team played a role in evaluating the platform and providing feedback to IBM’s internal team. 

While the term ‘Generative AI’ has only recently become part of the public’s everyday vocabulary, specialists like me have been working to understand this game-changing technology for years, and we have comprehensive experience helping teams from a wide range of sectors to implement and leverage this groundbreaking platform. 

 

2. Unprecedented customization:

As with any aspect of a digital transformation journey, the implementation of Generative AI within your organization must have a clear purpose: Before deploying such a robust tool, we always ask our customers: “What is your picture of success with Generative AI?” 

Different businesses, markets, industries, and sectors all have unique answers to this question. And to achieve these specific results, you’ll need to target your application of Generative AI towards specific use cases, processes, and tasks. Doing that requires a customizable platform, and a well-versed partner that fully understands how to leverage Generative AI to drive certain outcomes. 

 

3. Unmatched speed-to-value:

It’s no secret that AI is developing fast. I believe that it will be the organizations who move quickly to understand and implement this technology that stand to most meaningfully benefit from everything it can offer. But success with Generative AI isn’t as easy as simply choosing a platform and waiting for the results to roll in. Your teams must have vision, purpose, and the right support in order to truly see impressive results. 

In my day-to-day role, I work with customers to refine their objectives and help them identify clear, achievable ways to reach their goals. Through this exercise, we’re able to quickly build the necessary foundations that enable them to deploy watsonx in the most productive ways possible. By uncovering our customers’ goals and ambitions early on, the path toward implementation becomes much clearer and faster to navigate.

 

Start getting more from your data, tomorrow.

Prolifics’ “Power of 1” pledge is purpose-built to help ensure that teams get as much as possible from every aspect of their digital transformation journey, including their investments in Generative AI. All teams at Prolifics, including mine, are committed to leveraging our vast resources and deep expertise to ensure the fastest possible delivery of the best possible results for your business. 

In just one day, we’ll generate impactful ideas that will lend clarity to your projects and give shape to your goals. In just one week, we’ll provide you with proof of value to demonstrate exactly what Generative AI will mean for your organization and customers. In one month, we’ll build and deliver an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that will go beyond validating your needs and demonstrate tangible business value. And in one year, we’ll scale your deliverables to deliver 10x ROI. 

Harnessing the unparalleled power of Generative AI is a massive undertaking that requires clear goal-setting, reliable roadmapping, and strong support. 

Prolifics + watsonx continues to offer savvy, innovation-led organizations the partnership required to get the most from the incredible opportunities offered by this landscape-changing technology. 

To learn more about how Prolifics + watsonx can transform your approach to Generative AI, just get in touch with a member of our expert team. We’ll be happy to help however we can. 

 

About the Author:

Mike-HesterMike Hester is a Senior Data Architect at Prolifics with 36 years of experience in information technology, specializing in DSS/Data Warehousing. He has worked in various roles such as project manager, system analyst, technical architect, and developer, delivering information management solutions in industries like government, engineering, and ERP. Mike is familiar with operating systems like Mainframe, UNIX, VMS, and Windows, and has worked with databases including Teradata, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 UDB, DB2 DPF, and Netezza.

AI Governance Strategy

All Aboard! Don’t Let AI and AI Governance Leave You Behind.

So, you want to know what AI and generative AI can do for your business, but there are whispers in the office (okay – over Zoom) about AI getting out of control. Well, IBM has you covered on both sides. IBM’s watsonx.ai is “a next generation enterprise studio…for AI builders to train, test, tune, and deploy both traditional machine learning and new generative AI capabilities.” Meanwhile, IBM’s watsonx.governance is “a next-generation enterprise toolkit designed to automate and accelerate workloads across the AI lifecycle while providing risk management and facilitating regulatory compliance.” Simply, one does AI and the other watches AI. Let’s look at different use cases in various industries and see how each IBM product could play out. As you read this, think about all the potential use cases in your own organization. Let’s go – 

 

Banking – Building better compliance and higher customer trust

This financial institution uses an AI model to assess loan applications – analyzing an applicant’s financial data to predict potential defaults. However, there are concerns that there could be bias in the AI model – denying loans to certain demographic groups and creating regulatory compliance issues. 

The bank integrates its AI loan approval model with watsonx.governance. It’s configured to monitor the model for signs of bias against protected classes, such as race, gender and age. It assesses whether the model treats all applicants fairly and provides clear explanations for why a particular person was approved or denied.  

The governance system alerts the bank if potential non-compliance issues are detected. watsonx.governance maintains detailed logs and reports of the model’s decisions, which are needed for internal audits and regulatory reviews. It also generates a feedback loop to continuously improve the model, ensuring it remains fair, accurate, and compliant over time. Ultimately, this transparency is crucial for regulatory compliance and – perhaps more importantly – maintaining customer trust. 

 

Healthcare – Generating better patient outcomes

A large hospital wants to improve patient care, reduce diagnosis times, and enhance the overall efficiency of its medical services. They decide to integrate watsonx.ai into their system. Watsonx.ai can cross-reference medical literature and similar cases to generate personalized, patient-specific diagnoses and treatment plans. Watsonx.ai interfaces with the hospital’s electronic health records, and by analyzing patient data, medical histories, and clinical notes, it helps physicians diagnose complex cases.  

The watsonx.ai system also undertakes predictive analytics for preventive healthcare – such as identifying patients at risk for chronic diseases and outlining preventive measures. This proactive approach will not only improve patient outcomes, but also reduce long-term costs. 

In addition to patient care, watsonx.ai can assist with medical research and drug discovery through large dataset analysis. It also serves as a personalized educational tool for the medical staff, keeping them updated with the latest medical news in their fields or specialties. Overall, watsonx.ai will help generate better diagnostics, personalized treatment plans, and preventative measures, all resulting in better patient outcomes. 

 

Legal – Increasing output to service clients quicker

This small firm creates custom immigration visa plans ​by extracting information from source documents and populating a template to create a tailored report. They are only able to generate one plan per day. The client has heard that generative AI (Gen AI) increases productivity, but the client’s process is too complex for current Gen AI “token limits’ – how much language a Gen AI platform can handle in a prompt.​ 

The solution is a custom combination of IBM Database and watsonx to overcome the Gen AI token limits. The solution uses Gen AI to orchestrate steps and pull items together to create new content. This produces value way beyond how the client would have been able to use basic prompt-and-response Gen AI previously.​ 

The firm can produce at least 10 plans a day, versus one before. Greater immigration plan through-put will mean that individuals will get placed with the host businesses more quickly, meaning greater productivity for those businesses and, in turn, better service for their customers. 

 

Technology – Creating the “Intelligent Assistant” to support IT

This global financial technology company wants to integrate Gen AI within Microsoft Teams to create an interactive group resource for on-demand insights. The goal is facilitating chat interactions about current work in its IT operations department.​ 

The solution is an “Intelligent Assistant” with an incorporated “listener” that seamlessly integrates into Teams chat, complemented by an orchestrator, a UI (user interface), and a database with a LLM (large language model) hosted on watsonx. The solution actively monitors Teams chats and extracts and stores information.​ 

​The company will experience major productivity gains, including quicker identification of issues and problems; more accurate and efficient time and project tracking; instant access to information; and on-demand real-time content creation such as reports, steps for issue resolution, and more.​ 

 

Retail – Personalizing experiences while protecting privacy 

A large retail chain wants to enhance their customer experience and manage inventory more efficiently using AI. However, they want to ensure the ethical use of AI to keep their good reputation. They decide to implement watsonx.ai for advanced analytics and watsonx.governance for managing AI ethics and compliance. 

Watsonx.ai improves customer engagement and satisfaction by using customer data, purchase histories, and preferences to offer personalized shopping recommendations and predictions on shopping trends.  It also helps inventory management by forecasting demand, reducing the likelihood of being over or short with stock. 

At the same time, watsonx.governance ensures customer recommendations are unbiased and equitable, by monitoring AI applications for fairness. It also helps with compliance around data protection and privacy regulations, both essential for customer trust. 

The combination of watsonx.ai and watsonx.governance will lead to increased sales, reduced costs, and a strong ethical reputation in the market, along with – most importantly – customer loyalty. 

 

Let us help you do more together – Prolifics and watsonx

Are you ready for the bandwagon? Take our latest short self-assessment and see where you stand. 

When it’s time, bring any AI or generative AI use case to our virtual Prolifics Innovation Center. We’ll help you understand the best solutions. We’ll prototype quickly, create a minimal viable product, then build an end-to-end solution with our own development accelerators. We’ll help ensure data and AI governance from day one. Talk to us!