Quantum Computing for Business: The Impact and Challenges

As a continuation of our first discussion on the topic, now we move to understanding how quantum computing will turn around businesses’ performance. Also, let’s get familiarized with some challenges that lie in the way to its adoption and implementation.

Why quantum computing is important for businesses

Technological transformation is bringing positive changes sooner than one might have expected. Investing in and adopting quantum computing-based solutions will allow businesses to re-engineer their value chains much more efficiently than the traditional approaches.

By revolutionizing the approaches to deal with enterprise problem solving, quantum computing will better the revenue generation prospects of early adopters. So, organizations will be empowered with transformed strategic and operational models, overhauling their entire value chain management. Overall, this will prove to be a trailblazer in securing sustainable competitive advantage in a highly dynamic market scenario.

Empowered with impeccable problem-solving capabilities, enterprises investing positive efforts in exploiting the power of quantum computation will be able to easily adapt to changes and fluctuations.

How quantum computing will impact businesses

Let’s understand through examples how quantum computing can cause a major breakthrough for businesses operating in different industries.

• A typical logistics network grows over a period of time, becoming more complex. Often, optimally scheduling fleets across a complex network is a major challenge for logisticians, especially against numerous constraints. With classical computing capabilities, it would take an unimaginable time to achieve the optimal schedule. Quantum computing can resolve the existing scheduling complexities much swiftly, and allow logisticians to optimize lead times, turnaround times, transportation costs etc. in a highly efficient manner.

• Implementation of complex mathematical techniques like Monte Carlo simulation helps companies like Goldman Sachs to accurately price derivatives. To improve the accuracy of pricing financial instruments, the company is mulling the option of introducing quantum computations. This will help the investment banking giant develop perfect simulations against fluctuating market movements.

• Quantum Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another promising area that will expose businesses to a wide array of opportunities. Mechanisms like facial recognition and biometric identification are spawning tons of data. In the context of such mechanisms, prediction accuracy and decision-making hardly makes sense without efficient combinatorics. With quantum computing, AI capabilities will get a boost – enabled by the sheer speed at which the algorithms will execute.

Challenges in quantum adoption for businesses

Here are some of the technical challenges that enterprises might encounter when trying to implement quantum computing:

• Scaling quantum ecosystems is a long-term process, requiring use of specialized algorithms to correct and prevent qubit errors until the process reaches its completion.

• Quantum computers are vulnerable to external factors like temperature fluctuations, vibrations and electromagnetic waves. These factors can cause decoherence i.e. loss of coherence which affects the accuracy of output. This requires hardware platforms that can effectively deal with such issues.

• While qubits can seamlessly work complex calculations, the complicated nature of the interactions amongst qubits in itself is a complex process.

Let’s also look at some of the strategic challenges, summarized below:

• Quantum computing cannot operate as a separate concept for business improvements. As such, CXOs will have a major challenge of infusing quantum implementation into the minds of all stakeholders.

• To act as a true game-changer, quantum initiatives must be perpetuated across the value chain, however, this won’t be easy to drive vis-à-vis managing technical considerations.

Conclusion

Quantum mechanics propelled computing has been a subject of study and interest for the last four decades. With significant theoretical groundwork being done, in the next few years, quantum implementations will occur in real-world environments.

A fast-fail approach would help organizations attain better expertise rather than adopting a defensive stance. In the long run, the early adopters will benefit and be able to capitalize on the quantum advantage, which will enable them to secure critical opportunities.

To march ahead with developments, stakeholders must strongly consider becoming members of quantum communities. This will provide access to the latest developments and enable enterprises to evolve adaptable strategies required for reaping significant gains from the technology’s implementation.