IBMVoice: How The Travel Industry Can Transform Based On The Promise Of Cognitive Computing

During the busy holiday travel season, as both systems and staff are stretched to their limits, many travel industry executives contemplate the power that cognitive computing has to transform their industry. For the most part, however, they are adopting cognitive solutions in the form of chat-bots and robots, neither of which have matured enough to advance crucial strategies in the industry or demonstrate the technology's full capabilities. The IBM Institute for Business Value and the Economist Intelligence Unit interviewed 200 travel and 103 transportation executives for a new study, "Beyond Bots and Robots: Exploring the Unrealized Potential of Cognitive Computing in the Travel Industry." The study found that travel companies can create cognitive programs that improve the travel experience, streamline travel operations -- or do both. For now, most of the industry is in a wait-and-see mode, with just a few players conducting fairly, small-scale, low-risk cognitive projects.