What is Watson Workspace? We investigate IBM’s Workflow App

The new Workspace Powered by IBM's Watson

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IBMWatsonWorkspaceOverview
Collaboration

Published: August 2, 2018

Rebekah Carter - Writer

Rebekah Carter

The market for workplace management and collaboration tools is probably one of the most competitive in the communication space. These days everyone seems to be offering their solution for digitally-transforming companies who want to tap into the latest features of UC&C. Whether it’s Microsoft with their Teams option, which recently introduced a free tier, Workplace by Facebook, or Slack, everyone wants a piece of the collaboration pie.

IBM is no exception to this rule. Although IBM entered the UC&C space a little later than some other competitors, it hopes to set itself apart from the crowd with one crucial feature: the presence of their very own AI, “Watson” embedded into the workflow tool.

IBM Watson Workspace offers a “smart” destination for employees to collaborate on projects, share ideas, and post questions, all built from the ground up to take advantage of Watson’s cognitive computing abilities.

What Can You Expect from IBM Watson Workspace?

If you haven’t tried Watson Workspace yet, then the first thing you need to know is that IBM built it to eliminate some of the information overload that professionals face every day. As employees continue to juggle countless digital tools to help them make the most of their communication stack, Watson Workspace gives businesses a way to integrate various tools into a single stream, for a more seamless collaboration experience.

Of course, easy integration isn’t the thing that makes Watson Workspace such a unique contender in the modern marketplace. There are plenty of other options out there like Avaya , Alcatel-Lucent Rainbow and RingCentral Glip that can offer a similar experience.

Instead, IBM attempts to differentiate itself with the Watson AI, and the “Moments” feature on Workspace. Moments leverages the cognitive APIs in Watson to listen to conversations and group posts together. The idea is that you’ll be able to make informed decisions faster and get greater insights into the way your teams work.

The Best Features of IBM Watson Workspace

As team collaboration apps go, IBM Watson Workspace is a strong option. The tool is simple, flexible, and easy-to-use, giving teams a place to engage in group conversations, share files, and access mobile collaboration feeds. Designed to work on the cloud, IBM Watson Workspace was specifically developed to give workers on-the-go the same experience as employees at their desk. It also gives companies the option to build and integrate their own third-party bots and apps into the collaboration stream.

When IBM Watson Workspace first launched, it was accompanied by a number of cognitive APIs known as Watson Work Services, which allow developers to build on their Workspace environment. With this collaboration tool, you can:

  • Draw insights from conversations in existing applications and tools: Watson Workspace is open, and compatible with solutions like Slack, Salesforce, and more
  • Turn conversations into actions: The Watson AI summarises important information and recommends “next step” actions to make your business more productive
  • Access video conferencing: With a single click, you can launch Zoom video conferencing to take your conversations to the next level
  • Customise Watson Workspace: Use the Watson APIs to boost your collaboration slack with AI-infused solutions and services

There’s even a “Plus” version of Watson Workspace which comes with single sign-on, administrative controls, and dedicated support from IBM.

It remains to be seen whether IBM Watson Workspace really has the power to contend with the likes of RingCentral Glip, Avaya Equinox, and ALE Rainbow, but it’s safe to say that the addition of Watson brings an interesting update to the market.

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