Derek Schoettle, General Manager of IBM’s Watson Data Platform, had a fantastic keynote speech at the Apttus Accelerate event in San Francisco. Demystifying all those not so user-friendly phrases such as AI, Machine Learning, and cognitive business just before lunch was a tough ask but he made it look effortless.

If today's cognitive businesses are already achieving new levels of performance – from improving customer engagement to scaling expertise to driving innovation and growth.  I had to find out more.

I caught up Schoettle and asked him to share an insider’s view to the innovation that drives IBM Watson and for providing insight on how to build your cognitive business. Most importantly, the examples of real-world ROI from leveraging Watson for Quote-to-Cash and business performance.