Analyst Insight: Over the next few years, numerous new regulations are coming into effect worldwide, requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, dispensers and others up and down the chain to build serialization, verification, and traceability into their supply chains. While there is tremendous potential ROI and added value from these investments, right now all the focus is on the race to comply before the deadlines hit. Those who get there first will likely have a head start in finding additional value from these newfound capabilities. - Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

In the latest Worldwide Commercial Robotics Spending Guide, International Data Corp. forecasts global spending on robotics and related services to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent from more than $71bn in 2015 to $135.4bn in 2019. The guide measures purchases of robotic systems, system hardware, software, robotics-related services, and after-market robotics hardware on a regional level across 13 key industries and 52 use cases.

Winning $1m on Jeopardy! wasn't good enough for IBM's Watson. Now it wants to predict your buying behavior.

Doug Bowen, vice president supply chain, and Terry Loftus, medical director, surgical services and clinical resources, discuss the initiatives that Banner Health has undertaken in recent years to cut inventory and logistics costs, without affecting the quality of service to doctors and patients.