During the last day of this year’s IBM InterConnect event, conversations and presentations from the rest of the event were examined from new angles, with attendees from other companies and IBM’s representatives converging to find the best ways to utilize the latest developments and address new challenges.

John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, joined Chris O’Connor, GM of Internet of Things (IoT) Offerings at IBM, to get his perspective on what IoT has in store, as well as how it joins with the cognitive analytics methods being pushed by Watson (IBM’s cognitive processing technology).

The physical side of IoT

O’Connor had a lot to say about IoT’s potential, but he began by establishing the baseline: “Everybody’s starting from this point of operational data.” From there, he said, the added value pays for the cost of the upgrades needed to take fuller advantage of IoT data-leveraging, allowing those same companies to adjust their focuses to improving efficiency, pushing new dynamics with business partners based on the acquired abilities, and engaging in more meaningful dialogues with clients.

He also pointed out ways in which IoT is enabling companies that have been physically oriented to now talk to the client digitally, with examples of washing machines, refrigerators and plumbing used to illustrate ways in which these companies can not only reduce transport costs by ensuring the right parts to repair these appliances are delivered the first time, but also by letting them specifically identify the cause of the problem and talk the customer through the procedure of repairing it themselves.

Upgrading IoT capabilities

Giving a brief retrospective on connectivity’s improvement, O’Connor traced its move from a reliance on wired functionality to the ubiquity of Wi-Fi, cellphone connectivity, Bluetooth, and various other specialty options to create seamless experiences.

From theoretical exploration-oriented to looking at the connectivity of a thing to fundamentally operationalizing the productivity, IoT is disrupting the market in ways that have yet to be fully explored.

Cognitive IoT ecosystem

“Cognitive analytics is about increasing the amount of data to improve the learning environment,” O’Connor said, noting how this reverses the old mantra of “slim down your data.” Referring to the “staging of information,” he also noted the importance of keeping data clean as it goes from point to point, but he emphasized that combining multiple data streams is where the cognitive value can be found.

“The value in the patterns that hit necessitate the move now,” he added, laying out how bringing in other vectors once the path to cognitive has already been started is a modular process that companies can use as their revenues increase from initial integration. “Operational efficiency can’t be stressed enough.”

With IoT tying into Watson and cognitive analytics, safety, security and verification of goods shipping, the range of ways to improve business efficiency and revenue really is only at the tip of the iceberg at this point.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM InterConnect 2016. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts.

Photo by SiliconANGLE