IBM Watson is changing how businesses tackle common issues with a suite offering AI services, applications, and tools that can be used to put your company’s data to good use. Insights can be used to improve workflow and business practices while also freeing up time by automating some roles with learned AI. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting problems IBM Watson is solving today.

H&R Block’s Difficulty Maximizing Tax Returns

Taxes are complicated. On top of the lengthy tax code that consists of 74k pages, each year thousands of changes are made each year that can impact tax returns. H&R Block uses IBM Watson to tackle this problem and ensure their customers receive every cent that is owed to them. By teaching Watson tax laws and common language, the system is able to take a client’s responses to tax prep questions and make suggestions about possible credits and deductions.

H&R Block’s president and chief executive officer, Bill Cobb, describes the benefits of using IBM Watson saying, “By combining the human expertise, knowledge, and judgment of our tax professionals with the cutting-edge cognitive computing power of Watson, we are creating a future where our clients will benefit from an enhanced experience and our tax pros will have the latest technology to help them ensure every deduction and credit is found. This partnership with Watson means we can leverage the best technology available to help our clients get their taxes won.”

Combining the power of Watson’s data analytics tools as well as the expertise of their accountants, H&R Block is able to eliminate human error and ensure new tax laws are applied to each tax return. Director of Client Experience and Product Management at H&R Block, Meg Sutton, explains this further by saying, “H&R Block tax professionals in the office or working remotely with clients are backed by technology to evaluate your situation against the tax code, thousands of yearly tax law changes, and then work with Watson to identify all credits and deductions to find you the best possible outcome.”
 

Energy Company Wants To Keep Expert Knowledge Accessible After Senior Employees Retire

When you run a business in an industry that relies on the expert knowledge of senior employees long after they’ve retired, it’s essential to have a system in place that can retain that knowledge in a way that is both accessible and secure. This is why the engineers at Australia’s largest energy company Woodside, who heavily rely on past data to ensure accuracy in their work, has turned to IBM Watson for a solution. The system allows them to not only retain information from the knowledge of their past workers, but it allows current employees to access the information, analyze and learn from it. 

Graduate Process Engineer for Woodside, Caitlin Bushell, describes their experience using IBM Watson saying, “You have to spend a bit of time training Watson before it will actually work, but it’s been really positive in the operations area. It’s helped our engineers get up to speed very quickly on what has already been done and how they were managed in the past. We can learn from the past, and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.”

A case study performed found that using IBM Watson reduced the time Woodside employees spent reading and sorting through company data by 75%. Not only has this increased productivity but it has accelerated expertise as the information is more accessible to their employees. It’s also estimated that the Australian energy company saved AUD 10M (just under $7 million USD) in employee costs by implementing this system to store information from past employees.

A Winery’s Difficulty Watering Grape Vines In Precise Measurements

It may be hard to imagine how data analytics can be utilized to improve the quality of grapes used to make wine, but that’s exactly what those at E. & J. Gallo Winery are doing. Grapevines require precise amounts of water in order to reach their full potential. Too little or too much can render the grapes useless, and when you run a winery you can’t afford this kind of loss.

 Using IBM Watson’s data tools and a satellite, E. & J. Gallo Winery is able to combine their data with weather reports to deliver precise amounts of water to each grapevine. The irrigation system is able to adapt as the weather changes, optimizing grape growth. Not only was E. & J. Gallo Winery able to reduce their water usage by 25%, but they’ve also improved the quality of their wine.

Conclusion

Implementing IBM Watson suite’s tools has proven to put company data to good use in ways that improve efficiency, customer service, and overall productivity. More than just analyzing the numbers behind a business’ day to day activities, it offers solutions that are helping companies save money, be more environmentally conscious, and predict the future of the industry. It’s safe to say that tools like Watson are changing the way data analytics is used across a ton of industries.

About the Author

RJ Daskevich, DCM is a senior consultant and training instructor for Stone Door Group’s AI and Machine Learning practice. He is both a Hadoop Certified Developer and Google Certified Data Engineer. Stone Door Group helps customers transition to an AI and ML, enabling digital enterprise in a consumable way. To speak with RJ and our team of experts, send us an email at letsdothis@stonedoorgroup.com.