When IBM Corp. announced the Watson Data Platform last October, some viewed artificial intelligence product as little more than a repackaging of its governance, visualization and cloud analytics tools. The company, however, has taken great pains since to describe the platform as offering more than just a set of disparate services.

“It’s not just us putting a bunch of stuff together and calling it a new name,” said Manish Goyal (pictured), director of product management, Watson Data Platform, at IBM.

Goyal stopped by theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, and answered questions from hosts Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and James Kobielus (@jameskobielus), during IBM Fast Track Your Data in Munich, Germany. They discussed how the Watson platform is structured and ways that customers are using it to manage data. (* Disclosure below.)

Watson’s data fabric is key element

The key differentiator, or “secret sauce” is Watson’s data fabric or governance layer, which connects across the platform and allows users to remove silos, build smart applications and gain new insights in a collaborative environment, Goyal explained.

“Combined with the data fabric … we’re giving these tailor-made experiences for the data personas and making it extremely simple for generating insights that can be trusted,” Goyal said. “That is what we are trying to do with the Watson Data Platform.”

The company is already seeing a number of use cases for the platform, many of which are tied to IBM’s Data Science Experience. In one example, a water utility company is using Watson to optimize how long pumps need to run in order to satisfy customer needs. In another, a logistics firm is taking advantage of the technology to reduce loss in the transport of refrigerated goods.

“It is a team sport. If you do not enable teams to work closely together … you can’t go after all the data that’s being generated, all the opportunity that data is presenting to enterprises and gain a competitive advantage,” Goyal concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of the IBM Fast Track Your Data event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Fast Track Your Data. Neither IBM nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE