Big data is still young, but as top technology companies experiment and work with it, it is possible to glimpse into its future. The endgame of all this data aggregating and analyzing, of course, is insight — succinct answers to business or commercial questions. The more insights we generate, catalog and play off of each other, the closer we get to the new and thrilling “Insight Economy.”

Bob Picciano, SVP of the Information and Analytics Group at IBM Corp., said that to enter the Insight Economy, businesses have to understand the difference between digital processes and digital intelligence. “Unless they’re thinking provocatively now about how they’re introducing that digital intelligence along the way in a native, intimate, engaging format, all that they’re going to have is a digital set of processes,” he stated.

Picciano told John Furrier (@furrier) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the IBM World of Watson event that digital intelligence is about machine learning, deep learning and AI woven into the business model.

Watson ads

As an example of digital intelligence, Picciano mentioned the unveiling of Watson-powered advertising. Instead of static digital ads, he said, “Now we’ve opened up those ads to have a natural language dialogue between the brand and the person.” (Watson is IBM’s technology platform that uses machine learning to uncover insights from unstructured data.)

For instance, he said, imagine a consumer viewing a Campbell’s soup ad, which gives purchasing and preparation suggestions. “Campbell’s will engage Chef Watson. Chef Watson will answer the question to the individual,” he explained.

Watson professions

One of the highlights of the conference, Picciano said, was “this notion of Watson professions and thinking about the industry and the professions in those industries that are going to be transformed in this Insight Economy.”

He added that the democratizing of development — making development easier for those without specialized skills — is key to these transformations.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM World of Watson 2016.

*Disclosure: IBM and other companies sponsor some IBM World of Watson segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither IBM nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.

Photo by SiliconANGLE