Dr. Elliot King

That still hasn’t happened. 

But just because the pundits’ proclamation of a new computer’s impact are generally full of hype, that doesn’t mean they will always be wrong. Last month, IBM announced that it was working with the insurance company Well Point and the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles to evaluate evidence-based treatment options for physicians using Watson

This is not an altogether new application. Since the 1980s, people have understood that medical diagnostics and evaluation is a ripe area for computing. What is new is the amount of data Watson can integrate and bring to bear on the problems and the speed with which it can produce nuanced results. The plan is for Watson to draw both on historical cancer data and Cedars-Sinai medical records.

What is also new is the degree of confidence IBM is showing about the commercial applications of Watson technology. This is not a demonstration project. In fact, IBM seems to be betting its future on Watson providing a platform that will enable IBM to deliver comprehensive solutions to vexing problems in ways that no other company can. The bottom line is that Watson may be the linchpin of IBM’s campaign promoting “Solutions for a Smarter Planet.”

If Watson succeeds and IBM can credibly deliver new large-scale data-driven solutions that can have an impact on seemingly intractable problems, IBM will have redefined itself—once again—and redefined enterprise computing in a profound way. Once a mainframe behemoth, IBM subsequently provided the seal of approval for personal computing. It then redefined itself as primarily a computer services provider. It is now on the cusp of being the first true data-driven solutions provider and that will have an impact on everybody. So yes, Watson is for real. But with all due respect to Sherlock Holmes, it is no longer elementary.

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