Standard Bank of South Africa is set to become the first financial institution on the African continent to implement IBM’s new Watson technology which breaks traditional barriers in computing by using artificial intelligence, natural language processing and dynamic learning when assisting customer’s and businesses with the interpretation of data. The bank signed an agreement with IBM in this regard recently. According to the bank, although the IBM Watson program has been used for other applications, notably in the healthcare arena, it will be the first time in the Middle East and Africa that this technology will be used by a bank to interpret and maximise use of data. The ultimate beneficiaries of the project will be the customers of the bank for whom the process-known as ‘cognitive computing’ will undoubtedly bring many benefits as the bank continues to identify innovative ways of doing business and build a bank for the future. According to IBM, at the heart of the system is the efficient identification, gathering and use of customer information in a matter of seconds-thereby enabling the user to accurately assess a customer’s requirements and respond to his or her needs.
