ODIS Capabilities

The experts in this micropractice provide solutions that help companies improve speed, accuracy and quality in the fields of resource planning and scheduling, whether they arise in long-range strategic plans, day-to-day tactical operations, transportation logistics or anywhere in between.

For any company in any industry, optimization is about getting the most out of every dollar invested.

• For an electric utility, this may mean accurately forecasting demand in order to efficiently schedule power generation to meet requirements at minimal cost.

• For an investment group, this may mean identifying a range of optimal portfolio allocation strategies for improved asset liability management.

• For a manufacturing company, this may mean better gauging tool capacity to meet uncertain future demands.

Specialties in this micropractice focus on helping companies reduce cost, mitigate risk and maximize return on investment.

• Data mining for business intelligence: This specialty capitalizes on the data mining, predictive modeling and systems/architectures for analytics capabilities of the Data Analytics Research (DAR) project, developing tools and techniques that help businesses manage risk, protect themselves from fraud and more effectively handle their customer relationships.

• Large-scale optimization: A growing collection of innovative software and leading-edge expertise helps solve large and complex optimization problems in areas such as planning, scheduling and pricing. The IBM Research team has deployed optimization solutions in areas that include supply chain, airline transportation, process and service industries, and electronic commerce.

• Resource allocation in uncertain environments: Programming tools are designed to allocate resources to minimize cost or maximize return in uncertain and dynamic environments. Unlike traditional resource allocation tools, which develop projections based on historical relationships, these tools also take into account the random events and changes that can occur.