Dive Brief:
- Cognitive computing equips users to assess supply chains in a similar style to humans, unearthing connections at a deeper level than most current automated systems, InfoWorld reported.
- With rising levels of risk due to the multitude of indirect suppliers, threats to cybersecurity and the prevalence of forced labor within the supply chain, it is incumbent on supply chain managers to maximize their risk analysis resources.
- The increased oversight, speed, and cost effectiveness of cognitive computing allows supply chain managers to effectively handle the challenge of growing a business in a time of increasing risk.
Dive Insight:
Cognitive computing addresses complex data through the analysis of conflicting evidence, reaching conclusions it determines best instead of correct. In other words, it seeks to mimic human thought processes and abilities, such as understanding speech; making medical diagnoses; assessing risk, and using psychometrics to identify psychological profiles (a process allegedly applied in the November 2016 election to determine voter preferences).
Four methods of cognition are currently available: adaptive, which demands that the system learn and incorporate changing data; interactive, which includes Siri or Alexa; iterative, which utilizes the repetition and recall of potentially applicable information; and finally, there is contextual, in which the system must place data in the proper frame, through syntax, time, or location.
Ultimately, cognitive computing strives to blend the digital with the human; training a computer to act and think like a person in order to derive the best from each.
