IBM Corp. today updated its Cognos Analytics suite with new artificial intelligence capabilities, including natural language dialogue, automatic pattern detection and storytelling features.

Cognos Analytics is a cloud-based business intelligence platform that allows business users without technical knowledge to extract corporate data, analyze it and assemble reports. IBM said it’s updating the platform in order to make analytics and data science more accessible to these users.

One of the most notable new features is the AI Assistant, which is based on natural language processing technology and allows users to make queries in their natural voice and receive spoken answers. “That means it’s easier than ever not only look for answers, but understand those answers when they come in,” IBM’s Vice President of Business Analytics Greg Adams said in a blog post.

IBM is also adding “pattern detection” to the platform, so as to help identify and present “critical relationships” it finds within the data it analyzes.

“The thing is, many of these patterns may not have been evident or even considered prior,” Adams said. “By detecting patterns, the system also helps address analysis “blind spots,” or guesswork and the fruitless searching that it can lead to.”

Other new features in Cognos Analytics include “Storytelling,” which makes it easy to create a series of visualizations that tell a story about the data being analyzed. The visualizations can also be enhanced with media, web pages, images, shapes and text, while the “story” can be updated automatically as new data feeds into the system.

Additionally, Adams said, the new version includes smart exploration features that enable deeper analysis of data using machine learning and pattern detection, as well as automated visualizations, wherein the system selects what it thinks is the best visual representation for each data set it explores.

Adams said the whole point of these updates is that organizations are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of AI and the need to use this technology to unearth even more hidden insights from their data.

“Analytics, data science and business intelligence have become table stakes in the business world,” Adams said. “They’re part of the fundamental building blocks [of AI]. We think organizations large and small will see real value in it and begin making more informed, more strategic decisions to propel their businesses into the future.”

The updated version of Cognos Analytics is available now. Pricing for Cognos Analytics 11.1 multi-tenant starts at $70 per user, per month.

Image: IBM