"We no longer have these monolithic systems anymore. Your data is going to be in different workload-optimized systems. Having a federated search capability will be important to build these systems," Kopp said.

IBM's Cognos business intelligence (BI) software has been augmented with new capabilities as well. A plug-in for the dashboard provides a new interface, one that resembles a spreadsheet. "It is a much more consumable product," Kopp said.

Kopp noted that many organizational analysts, especially those in regulatory compliance, had difficulty using the traditional Cognos interface, and so they exported data from Cognos into spreadsheets. This plug-in formats the data in a spreadsheet-like interface, allowing analysts to do simple calculations directly on the BI software. The spreadsheet is automatically updated when the source data is changed.

The company will also launch a new service offering, called Analytics Answers, that provides data analysis services for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). The service can execute social media sentiment analysis, compliance reporting and other common analyses.

"You don't need data scientists. It is a fully customizable solution directed at the line of business," Kopp said. "If IT cannot keep up with demand, and if there is specific [analysis] that the customer needs, IBM can offer you a full solution in the cloud."