Quantum computing: 5 steps to take now

Quantum’s ability to analyze multiple scenarios simultaneously also promises to speed up research into high-impact diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, HIV or AIDS, Alzheimer’s, malaria and cardiovascular disease. 

Logistics, supply chain and travel

When it comes to route optimization, quantum’s ability to run multiple calculations at the same time makes it a perfect fit for logistics, supply chain and travel industries.

While conventional computers analyze each possible route between set points one-at-a-time until they identify the best option, quantum computers can analyze all paths simultaneously, flagging the best route available in a fraction of the time.

The world’s first quantum route optimization pilot project is already underway in Lisbon, Portugal, where a D-Wave quantum computer is being used to calculate the fastest route for nine of the city’s buses between 26 stops. The quantum computer constantly monitors traffic conditions and other variables and generates individual routes for each of the nine vehicles in near-real-time between the 26 stops.

The algorithm also predicts and factors in passenger numbers, adding temporary links to the buses’ scheduled services to serve stops with the greatest demand.

Lisbon’s quantum route optimization pilot has been designed in a fully scalable way, so that it can be transferred to any city and used by vehicle fleets of any size. For example, the use-case could also be extended to optimize final-mile parcel delivery, fleet operators and taxi services.

The emergence of autonomous vehicles opens the possibility of entire smart-city traffic networks managed and optimized by quantum computers. The benefits could include reduced congestion, improved energy efficiency and sustainability at great scale, and a step-change in road-user safety.

Meanwhile, in the wider field of logistics, quantum could help organizations double down on their efforts to meet customer demand while minimizing total supply chain costs. This could include ensuring assets are in the optimum location, maximize the simultaneous preparation of shipments and further enhance predictive ordering to speed up final-mile delivery.

The emergence of quantum cloud services, such as Amazon Braket, could prove to be a powerful tool for companies looking for similar end-point solutions to complex challenges around autonomous transport, logistics, smart-city design or any data-heavy use case involving solutions with a massive range of permutations.

The financial sector: banking, asset and wealth management 

“We can expect banking, wealth and asset management industries to be completely disrupted by quantum computing,” says Sanz Saiz. “The sector already relies heavily on artificial intelligence and machine learning, but quantum will take these and other computing capabilities to a whole new level.”

The financial sector has already identified quantum use-cases in the following three areas:

• Risk profiling: Financial institutions face increasing demands from regulators to balance risk, hedge their trading positions and stress test their activity to achieve compliance. However, existing simulations, using conventional computers, have a wide margin for error. Quantum computing promises greater precision, faster simulation and the ability to test a significantly wider spread of outcomes at speed.
• Trading optimization: Asset and wealth managers can expect to use quantum to optimize their clients’ investment portfolio mix thanks to the technology’s ability to process large and previously unwieldy data sets. In an increasingly complex trading environment, they will also be able to harness quantum to understand and factor in real-life variables, such as market volatility, and then simulate large numbers of scenarios to accurately estimate predicted returns. 
• Personalization: It’s estimated that a quarter of financial institutions lose clients because they are unable to tailor their offering to the individual. Understanding customer needs in real time, however, is a daunting challenge and the analytical models and data processing required are huge. Quantum computing promises to be a game changer thanks to its superior ability to identify and extrapolate patterns in complex customer behavior data to predict individual customer needs.
•  Financial crime detection: Quantum could also be used to detect the tell-tale data patterns and transaction flows associated with corporate and financial fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. Fraud detection systems remain highly inaccurate, returning 80% false positives, causing financial institutions to be overly risk averse. To help ensure proper credit scoring, the customer onboarding process can take as long as 12 weeks. 

While not all cryptography will be vulnerable to quantum, some critical forms will be at risk. In fact, there is a real risk that hackers have already started to intercept and retain encrypted data so that they can decrypt and exploit this information when quantum computing is readily available.

The guidance from Richard Watson, EY Global and Asia- Pacific Cybersecurity Consulting Leader  is stark. “Within three to seven years, quantum computers will be able to crack the algorithms behind the encryption keys that protect our data and the internet’s infrastructure,” he says. “Quantum computers will also successfully use trial-and-error 'brute-force' attacks to crack the passwords and login credentials for corporate networks.”

The RSA algorithm, for example, provides encryption for much of the $4 trillion e-commerce industry. It relies on the fact that the product of two prime numbers is difficult to factorize. It would take conventional computers trillions of years to break RSA encryption. Within the next decade, however, there are likely to be quantum computers capable of cracking the code in just seconds.

“The EY organization is targeting the cybersecurity risks associated with quantum right now, both internally and externally,” says Watson. “It has already signed alliance agreements with a network of quantum cybersecurity start-ups and is having active conversations with clients, predominantly from the financial services sector.”

1. Explore the intersection of quantum and strategic business goals

Managing strategic business transformation with classical digital technologies can be hard enough without adding quantum computing into the mix. While it is important for business leaders to think about the impact of quantum computing in isolation, attention should also be focused on the intersection with organizational imperatives, such as environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), talent and the future of work, and ongoing digital transformation. 

2. Assess your organization’s readiness

Leaders should create a pilot team — preferably reporting to the board — to gauge where quantum computing could enhance future products, services and business operations; the maturity of current ecosystem relationships; and availability of relevant skills.

3. Strengthen cyber defences

Organizations are advised to start the process of assessing their potential exposure to quantum cyber hacking now, according to Watson. He says this process involves identifying high-value assets, establishing where they are located, understanding what these assets are used for and how they are stored and transmitted. Equipped with this information, organizations are then able to plan the best way to deploy quantum-resilient encryption technology – protecting at-risk, high-value assets first.

4. Develop a quantum ecosystem of partners

Considering the cost, complexity and speed of quantum’s evolution, organizations are well advised to tap into this fluid landscape and develop their own partnership ecosystems in order to successfully develop their quantum play. Close working with trusted third parties will ensure organizations are quantum aware and quantum ready during what is expected to be the dawn of an exciting new era of computing.

5. Scan the horizon for quantum disruption

The future of quantum is still uncertain. To deal with this ambiguity, organizations can monitor the broader societal, technological, economic, environmental and political landscape for signals of progress and disruption. Technical developments and breakthroughs in quantum computing are often reported in the technical and trade press, and experiments carried out by competitors may be announced in corporate press releases. Analyst firms provide comprehensive views of the quantum landscape and ecosystem, and technology partners and suppliers can provide bulletins and training relating to their own capability.