Interview: Scott Buchholz, Emerging Technology Research Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP

Ahead of sponsoring Quantum.Tech Boston in June, we caught up with Scott Buchholz, Emerging Technology Research Managing Director, and Government and Public Services Chief Technology Officer at Deloitte Consulting LLP to find out and discuss the the Quantum market, what Deloitte are currently working towards and why they are looking forward to sponsoring Quantum.Tech Boston.

What do you think of the potential rise of Quantum as a Service?

If “Quantum as a Service” means access to the machines paid for on-demand, we have already arrived.

If “Quantum as a Service” means APIs that run on quantum computers, we are starting to see these today. Often, companies are offering hybrid services that can optimize queries for classical or quantum computers.

If “Quantum as a Service” is a talent and resource acquisition strategy, make sure that you’re clear on the pros and cons of that strategy, as well as being clear about triggers that would change your approach.

How is Deloitte working with the global developer community?

We are working with academic and commercial organizations to expand the types and availability of training to the global community. We’re also launching extended challenge “hackathons” such as our Deloitte Quantum Climate Challenge, which is designed to give teams several weeks to explore a complex optimization problem: optimizing airspace routing given a variety of complex factors using access to real quantum computers.

If you were talking to a CIO/CTO at a major enterprise looking at quantum technologies for the first time what advice would you give them?

I would share three pieces of advice:

1) Focus on use cases: It’s easy to get lost and geek out on the physics, but to unlock true innovation it’s extremely important to first focus on how the technology connects to solving business problems and the overall goals of and value to the organization.

2) Get help: While we all understand what today’s computers can do, quantum computers simply work differently. Programming them requires specialized training, and they will work well for some classes of problems (optimization, chemistry, etc.), but not for many others. That is, we will likely never run a spreadsheet or word processor on a quantum computer. Working collaboratively with an expert to help define, design, and apply the technology to solve business problems is crucial.

3) Get started: Doing a proof of concept doesn’t need to be expensive and should end with you being far more educated about the nature of the technology.

What is the most interesting real-world application of Deloitte technologies that you have seen?

In the computing world, the initial real-world applications for quantum technologies are largely “quantum inspired” or “quantum adjacent” instances around machine learning, optimization, and related topics. The use cases tend to be business critical but not time sensitive (e.g., producing the optimal staffing schedule for next month or identifying the attributes that are most aligned with fraudulent transactions rather making real-time product recommendations).

What industry verticals do you see most suited to the potential applications of quantum computing?

Financial services, government, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, and materials science seem to be the most promising areas for potential applications of quantum computing.

Quantum computing has the potential to transform industries that rely on large amounts of data and calculations that are too complex to be efficiently performed on classical machines. For instance, in financial services, banking and securities firms are exploring the technology for financial modelling and recommendations, investment risk analysis, credit origination and onboarding, insurance pricing optimization, trading strategies, and more. In government applications, quantum can be applied for city planning and emergency management, command logistics, health outcome predictions, climate change simulation, and weather prediction.

Also, a diverse group of industries rely on computer simulation and modeling to test and develop new chemical compounds, solid materials, and industrial processes. Three promising applications are health care and life sciences, materials science and discovery, and chemical process simulation and optimization.

In health care and life sciences research and development, quantum computers may revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. For instance, it may be possible to speed up the assessment of the potential drug reactions and side effects which currently require a decade or more of testing. Quantum computers could also identify compounds with therapeutically useful, pharmacological, or biological action that could help to improve the strength and precision of compounds. This could help reduce the time and cost of bringing life-saving drugs to market.

In materials science, materials designers use complex calculations to predict the mechanical, optical, and physical properties of ceramics, glasses, polymers, metal alloys, and composite materials. Quantum computers could help design engineers create better materials by giving them more precise control over molecular reactions.

Finally, when looking at chemical process simulation and optimization, quantum computing could help scientists test and develop new industrial processes that could help conserve natural resources, reduce emissions, lower costs, and speed production.

How far do you think we are off Quantum Supremacy?

Quantum supremacy is often defined as the point in time when classical computers will no longer be able to keep up with quantum computers across a wide range of tasks. While we’ve made significant progress in the area on very narrowly defined problems, the declaration of general victory is probably years to a decade or so away (but probably not multiple decades.) There are deep and challenging research and engineering advances that we need to make to achieve the general goal.

With that said, technology giants, governments, and early-stage start-ups are investing billions to advance the technology. We believe that it’s important for organizations to understand how quantum technology may apply to their business models to successfully engage in the space. In many cases, waiting is not the right option as exponential advances are hard to predict, and chasing a receding wave is much harder than riding it in the first place.

Do you see quantum computing replacing or augmenting classical computing in years to come?

Augmenting. Given the current state of quantum computers (e.g., no memory, often requiring specialized cooling or hosting requirements), the computers are more likely to act as specialized co-processors for the near term. In addition, classical computers have become unbelievably good over the past 50+ years, meaning that they are likely to be the most cost-effective option for daily tasks for the foreseeable future.

You are kindly one of our lead sponsors at Quantum.Tech in Boston this June; what are you looking forward to at the conference?

As organizations start to consider the future impact of quantum on their businesses, we are looking forward to connecting with leaders to talk about developments in the field, hear about the latest breakthroughs, and help organizations determine potential future use cases for their businesses.

We’re also very excited to see all the friendly faces in our industry and continuing to support the ecosystem of players.

How are you attracting quantum talent?

To attract talent, we’ve recruited and trained a core team of quantum experts and combined them with a collection of business savvy quantum enthusiasts. By combining challenging problems with a great environment, we’ve become an attractor of talent. Ultimately, the future will belong to those who can ensure that quantum technologies and algorithms can be used in service of business problems.

In addition, as part of Deloitte’s commitment to providing an ongoing learning and development to our practitioners, we’re continuously training our existing global workforce in the quantum skillsets and knowledge that are needed for the future.