IBM announces Watson Analytics

IBM has introduced Watson Analytics, a natural language-based cognitive service that can provide immediate and simple access to powerful predictive and visual analytic tools for businesses. The company says the first release of Watson Analytics will include a “freemium” version of its cloud-based service designed to run on desktop and mobile devices.

IBM explains business users can gain instant access to persona-based business scenarios specific to their role. Instead of fumbling over data, searching for answers or testing hypotheses, the user can focus on understanding the business and effectively communicating results to stakeholders. The solution also incorporates natural language processing so business users can ask the right questions and get results in terms familiar to their business that can be read and understood or interacted with. As users interact with the results, they can fine-tune their questions and the data to surface the most relevant facts and uncover unforeseen patterns and relationships, which, IBM says, will enable predictive decision making for all levels of users.

Like other IBM cloud solutions, it will be hosted on SoftLayer and available through the IBM Cloud Marketplace. Certain capabilities of Watson Analytics will be available for beta test users within 30 days and will be offered in a variety of freemium and premium packages starting later this year, IBM reports.