System Overview

IBM Watson: How it Works!
IBM Watson is a supercomputer, a cognitive technology that processes information more like a human than a computer (Gallaugher, 2015). A cognitive solution redefines how to find the proverbial needle in a haystack by quickly unlocking the value of unstructured data (documents, emails, social media posts, images, etc) and data dispersed among many systems and silos (IBM, 2016).  IBM Watson is a platform that can provide insights and answers in natural language to today’s complicated business challenges, and improve performance, customer service and revenue, not only by quickly answering questions buried among avalanches of data, but also by continuous learning, reasoning and adapting; in IBM’s words, “to outthink the needs of the ever changing market” (IBM, 2016).
Cognitive technology creates knowledge from data and has many known applications.  From its' initial debut as the supercomputer which beat a pair of “Jeopardy” game show champions in 2011, IBM’s Watson has been applied to many domains and industries, like healthcare, education, and business decisions (Banavar, PBS, 2015). In all, IBM Watson can be found in seventy-five industries and seventeen nations. This technology provides access to massive data sets and the ability to discern trends from these sets resulting in exponential improvement in decision-making.  In regards to healthcare, artificial intelligence will make sense of vast amounts of health data to deliver tailored information to physicians, insurers, researchers and hospitals (Sreenivasan, PBS, 2015).

The main features of Watson IBM Analytics are: natural language dialogue, automated predictive analytics, and one-click analysis. Watson IBM is a disruptive technology that appeared in the market with a set of performance attributes that have been slowly but surely improving to invade the established markets (Gallaugher, 2016). Computers have never been able to understand natural language, such as the type of high-level academic language used in research articles, and IBM Watson has revolutionized this (PBS, 2015). Moreover, what used to be roomful of computers, has shrunk to size of a pizza box to bring all functionalities together with better performance and accessible through the cloud.

➤Natural language dialogue: This features allow you to engage with your data conversationally and discover new associations and insights to make better informed decisions. Natural language dialogue helps you to dramatically accelerate insights by eliminating the need to learn query languages or step-by-step, recommend data sets, insights based on questions you type in your own words, and to use cognitive capabilities to interpret intent beyond the specific words used (IBM, 2016).

➤Automated predictive analytics: This feature automatically surfaces what is likely to drive outcomes. It surfaces insightful data patterns and the variables affecting your business, enables even users with little analytics experience to understand the drivers in data simply by indicating an outcome, and automatically builds models and shows the influencers (IBM, 2016).

➤One-click analysis: This feature makes sense of data discoveries in one click. It automatically serves up insights and visualizations that enable you see new and unexpected things in your data, handles the difficult work for you, from math to analysis and coding, so that you can receive all the benefits of advanced analytics without complexity. Finally, it enables you to approach your analysis without personal bias or preconceived notions so you can focus on the answers that are most relevant (IBM, 2016).

  UPMC has developed over the last 20 years from a single psychiatric hospital into an $12 billion integrated global health enterprise with close ties to the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, UPMC makes use of a broad range of innovative data technologies. For example, the "MyUPMC" portal lets patients communicate with physicians, view medical records and test results, and renew prescriptions at their own convenience. In 2015, the portal was expanded to include a virtual visit functionality called “ UPMC AnywhereCare,” as well as direct appointment scheduling. Meanwhile, approximately 13,000 telemedicine centers were completed at UPMC, including three centers which serve UPMC’s remote and rural communities. Finally, UPMC has a stellar record in Electronic Health Record deployment, ranking in the top 90th percentile in the U.S. (UPMC, 2016).
The next step is Big Data analytics and the functionalities that Watson has to offer. In 2015, UPMC began utilizing genetic information to allow for personalized medicine on topics including gynecology and cancer (UPMC, 2015). In addition, UPMC has begun to work with IBM’s Watson to curb its Supply Chain costs, introducing a new company called Pensiamo. The company will work with IBM Watson’s cognitive analytics tools to optimize expenditures, improve the match of production with demand, and use products more efficiently (Pensiamo, 2016; Monegain, 2016). Finally, in 2016 UPMC Enterprises funded the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, a new partnership with University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Pilot projects funded for the initial 6 months include the CMU-based Clinical Genomics Modeling Platform, an engine for creating precision medicine models; and five additional research projects going on at University of Pittsburgh, including the Big Data related Tumor Specific Driver Identification (TDI) system, which drives personalization of cancer therapies by applying tumor-specific algorithms to genetic data (Versel, 2016). IBM’s Watson system could be a key tool going forward as the Alliance moves on from the initial set of pilot studies to new studies. Check it out here: IBM Watson: How it Works!

Resources

Gallaugher, J. (2016). Information systems: A manager's guide to harnessing technology. Retrieved from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/28393?cid=253359



Kirby, J., & Davenport, T. (2016). Just How Smart Are Smart Machines? Retrieved September 26, 2016, from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/just-how-smart-are-smart-machines/?use_credit=4a7292e7394b1e8f0a5b99b233065859

 Monegain, B. (2016, July 8). UPMC taps, IBM Watson, big data, machine learning to build  better supply chain. Retrieved from http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/upmc-taps-ibm-watson-big-data-machine-learning-build-better-supply-chain.

 Pensiamo. (2016). Transforming  health care supply chain. Retrieved from http://www.pensiamocs.com/.

 UPMC. (2016). The UPMC story: The history of Life Changing Medicine at UPMC. Retrieved from http://www.upmc.com/about/why-upmc/Pages/story.aspx

 UPMC. (2015). Transforming healthcare: The year in review, fiscal year 2015. Retrieved from http://www.upmc.com/about/finances/Documents/2015-annual-report-print.pdf

 Versel, N. (2016, March 22). UPMC Enterprises puts $3M into Big Data innovations.
Retrieved from http://medcitynews.com/2016/03/upmc-enterprises-big-data-innovations/

 PBS NEWSHOUR (2015)  Why we're teaching computers to help treat cancer. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elwvtvnsa8M


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