How cognitive technologies transform organisation

A few decades ago, a computer’s power was limited due to its inability to process unstructured data in the way a human brain could.

Computers could not understand natural language since their processing capabilities were limited to 1s and 0s in a strictly binary structure.

The advent of cognitive technology has transformed computing and, therefore, many aspects of business, government and organisations, offering unparalleled power to increase value in core areas.

Cognitive technologies

Cognitive technologies are the key outputs from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), powering tasks that historically could only be performed by humans.

They mimic some human behaviours, intelligence with one key goal in mind; solving important and challenging problems.

Although there is no one acceptable definition of AI, it has now been fully recognised as a collection of practices, initiatives and activities, all extending the computer’s capability to perform more cognition, perception, decision-making-based task, thereby supporting transformation in a variety of human endeavours.

The best approach to understanding AI phenomena is to focus on critical areas and operationally define them within the said domain.

For example, using intelligence to solve performance problems and utilising data to improve diagnosis in health care.

Although work is being done in the creation of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which can perform multiple functions in various situations, there is a movement towards specific subsets of AI to narrow focus on a peculiar problem area.

For instance, we can talk about cognitive technologies which are perception-based (facial recognition), or perceive things (awareness of environment based on inputs from sensors), or predict (using patterns to show what is likely to happen next, learn progressively to improve performance) and plan (utilisation of lessons learned to make decisions).

Although some persons use cognitive and AI technologies interchangeably, maybe in recognition of the limited scope of AI, in real terms there is a distinction.

AI can be considered to be the parent, and cognitive technologies a narrow sub-set application of this broader field of AI.

From abstract to action

Although there is a lot of marketing hype around AI, including over-promising in terms of what it can deliver, there is a lot of evidence that points to the fact that cognitive technologies may be more useful.

We can list four primary areas of the application of cognitive technology in improving operations.

First, it enables innovation by ensuring we can understand new patterns and discover opportunities and insights previously unattainable.

It can assist with the issue of information overload by offering personalised and adaptive experiences through tailor-made products and services, delivering engaging content which meets individual needs.

Furthermore, cognitive technologies
provide tools for optimisation, thereby ensuring more effective and efficient delivery of services.

Lastly, it offers the mechanism to leverage an organisation's collective wisdom to permeate every aspect of its operations, breaking workplace silos.

Starting

For organisations wishing to leverage on cognitive technologies, a good starting point will be to define a specific problem that cognitive technologies can solve and documenting this in a business case.

Once drawn, however, the business case should not be cast in stone.

It should be seen as providing signposts for an iterative process.

Once the entity is clear on what problem they want to solve, it is recommended that they use the many cognitive tools available on the market.

The entity can purchase or subscribe to these products, install and integrate them with appropriate data sources without the need for coding.

As the entity grows in terms of its cognitive technology capabilities, knowledge and skills, it can build its own internally developed cognitive technology applications through coding.

In this direction, the entity can rely on a number of cognitive technologies APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to give them a head start.

The entry level to building cognitive solutions in-house is quite steep in terms of costs and other resource requirements; therefore, organisations can collaborate with other like-minded ones to develop solutions that benefit each of the partners.

Reality

In conclusion, cognitive technologies are not a futuristic eschatology; they are a present reality; therefore, individuals, organisations and society as a whole must recognise their limitation and risks, but work to increase their potential to help our world solve important problems.

The writer is a Technology Innovations Consultant.
E-mail: kwami@mangokope.com