Artificial intelligence, a very trendy concept in the technological world. Education, Agriculture, Travel, Healthcare, or any other industry. AI has stepped into their main fields and played big. According to a report by Statista, the financial sector will boost the GVA( gross value added) by 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars from the baseline of 3.4 trillion U.S dollars by 2035. And this added impact is due to artificial intelligence.
Having said that, it is time to address the elephant in the room, i.e., Artificial Intelligence.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence is a computer system that can perform jobs that usually require human intelligence. These AI systems are majorly powered by machine learning and a few by deep learning.
AI systems are critical for businesses as they extract value from data by automating processes and produce actionable insights. These systems leverage huge amounts of data for unleashing patterns that are not so easy to identify by an individual. For more details, check out the Harvard Business Review on the importance of AI in today’s economic world.
From autonomous vehicles and digital assistants to the house bots and image processors, the future is undoubtedly moving closer to an AI-driven economy. In such a situation, as a CEO, you either ride the waves by adapting to these changes or sink like a stone attached to the old ways of performing operations.
So if you’re still wondering to embrace AI, then don’t. Because most of your strongest competition has already got themselves in the blanket of this technology. Hence, you are not left with only two options:
- Find out whether a turnkey AI and MLAAS solutionS exists for your company goals.
- Or identify the AI-focused company to build you a custom solution.
The former requires to utilize some technical talent of your organization. One can take the aid of MLAAS( machine learning as a service) platforms from tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, IBM Watson, or Google Cloud. These platforms are well integrated with their enterprise cloud solutions and offer some usual technical capabilities such as text processing, speech, and image recognition. MLAAS platforms enable businesses that store their data in the cloud to take the help of built-in ML tools instead of developing their own, right from scratch.
Turnkey solutions and MLAAS platforms can’t solve everything on the one hand. Plus, the organization needs to employ a technical team for customizing these solutions. Hence the ball goes in the court of later option- fetch yourself AI solution development partner.
Points to consider before choosing the right AI Development company
1: Generic or Vertical Solutions
Big Enterprises usually offer cross-domain/ generic solutions, while on the other hand, Startups focus on vertical solutions. Generally, companies don’t like dealing with multiple partners and would opt for a generic software whereas some go for the industry-specific AI solutions. Making the choice of the right vendor can save organizations huge money and reap uncountable benefits. In failing to do so, the organization may have to face some severe issues. An instance supporting the same is Texas-based MD Anderson, the cancer research institute grabbed headlines in 2016 for severing the contract with IBM Watson, owing to the project failure.
2: Alignment with the company’s’ objectives
This is the most crucial criteria CEOs should consider before onboarding an AI vendor. Organizations should focus on identifying the right use case and start by deploying them on small projects. Before implementing the AI solution, the senior management needs to put a framework for the data collection and also consider regulatory and governance implications.
3: Portfolio of AI Development company
A portfolio gives you a sneak-peek into the experience an app development company possesses. It helps in getting clarity of the kind of solutions an organization has developed, the technology stack utilized, the type of industries they have been serving, overall ROI gained, and much more. All of this information will eventually assist you in predicting the future of your AI-based solution.
4: Make initial contact
Gather additional information by directly contacting the AI development agencies you find suitable. Prepare a questionnaire like this and fetch their answers:
Does the company has solved a similar problem like yours?
What sort of AI method they use?
How much time and data are required for improving the solution’s performance?
What are the risk factors?
How do you measure solutions’ ROI?
How is your product better than the competitors’?
5: Location of the company
Location plays a huge role in making the final decision. It is so because the difference in the area results in time zone changes, which further impacts the communication level. Moreover, some of the locations with highly skilled developers offering cost-effective AI-based solutions. Whereas, on the other hand, some of the countries have high development cost in addition to average services. Therefore, it is very much essential to consider the location of your vendor before coming to any conclusion.
6: The advisor
A robust advisory pre and post the implementation of the solution is also recommended. These advisors walk through each stage of deployment, in addition to providing training support. This is needed because usually the buyer companies lack AI/ ML professionals to handle the deployment.
7: Costing
Costing is another significant factor that influences the decision of choosing the vendor. AI solutions do have numerous benefits, but the cost of such software is usually very high, especially when bought from big enterprises. Startups, on the contrary, offer decent pricing and hence score higher in this area.
8: Client Feedback
When it comes to hiring an AI development company, getting the right service is not only important. One needs to sustain a healthy relationship with the second party.
To understand what kind of business relations your vendor maintains, get in touch with the former’s previous clients. After all, they have firsthand experience in working with that company and can give better insights.
9: Non- Disclosure Agreement
Last but not least, an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) can also assist in fetching find the right partner. It is so because an NDA is a legal document, and no fraud firm would be able to sign it. Hence, if any vendor is overlooking the need to sign this document, take them out of your book forever. Instead, prefer an agency that introduces you to the NDA themselves.
Conclusion
Though investing in AI-based solutions is a very serious business. Tech giants spend tens of billions on researching AI solutions, their deployment, and more. AI is the need of the hour, and their solutions will have a direct impact on the ROI of your business. But to do all this, one needn’t invest billions like these huge enterprises but partnering with the right development agency.
