IBM Watson, get me consumer engagement

A pointer to the future for healthcare? What’s made health tech headlines is IBM Watson’s big data modeling for decision support tools in oncology and taking the US Medical Licensing Examination [TTA 10 Mar and prior] , but Watson’s capabilities are being tested in other verticals such as retail and customer service. This latest item from Direct Marketing News (!) does a once-over-lightly-from-the-press-release on their partnership with contact (call) center Genesys  ‘customer experience platform’. It will further automate both telephonic and online service using Watson methodology by end of this year. Not mentioned of course is all the back end information on customer behavior. What can this mean in healthcare? Off the top of this Editor’s head, it’s proactive consumer engagement, a concept much discussed but rarely achieved without a fair degree of obtrusiveness. Trending data on fitness monitoring being sent on your smartwatch or band, interactive suggestions/reminders in diabetes management at those mid-afternoon times when you’re reaching for candy or coffee, a phone call from a real or virtual ‘case manager’ using behavioral data off your smartphone (locating you at the ice cream stand), better call center support for clinical trial research done by contract research organizations (CROs) using behavioral data…..  Article