AI Consulting Explained: A Comprehensive Guide for Businesses
AI adoption is increasing in the global market, but businesses still have a few doubts about it. Here, we’ll discuss the need to partner with AI consulting companies and how they can help an enterprise achieve its goals. There have been many technological developments during the last few years in the international market. Businesses are shifting from traditional to modern data-driven models and using cloud services for IT infrastructure. Artificial intelligence has become a common keyword in digitally and technologically transforming business processes. The global AI market is likely to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 39.7% and touch $309.6 billion by 2026. ‘Many large enterprises are rapidly transforming their systems to adopt AI tools to increase productivity and profits. Small and medium enterprises are a little behind due to cost issues. Many large companies as well as startups are investing in AI and ML models and increasing their budgets to digitally transform their systems. However, startups are realizing the importance of investing in artificial intelligence applications. Several organizations are increasing their budgets to spend more money on AI and ML models. That said, there are a few barriers to AI adoption slowing that slows down the adoption rate. The main barriers to AI adoption are the lack of access to expertise and the cost of developing an AI application from scratch and that’s where AI consulting companies come to play. These roadblocks can be easily overcome by partnering with AI consulting companies. These companies have the necessary talent and tools to provide AI-based services for cost-effective prices. According to MarketWatch’s latest study, the AI consulting services market will earn a multi-million dollar revenue and grow exponentially in the next seven years. Today, many big as well as small. More and more organizations are relying on artificial intelligence consultants for digital transformation services. In this guide to AI consulting, we’ll read more about the types of services offered, how to choose the best AI consultants for your business, and the five best AI consulting solution providers in the market. What is AI Consulting? Artificial intelligence consulting is where AI engineers and experts assist business organizations from various industries to adopt AI applications to achieve their goals. This is easier said than done as it involves a series of activities and is a long-term process. AI consulting companies have several roles and responsibilities, such as: AI Consulting Process Let’s look at the steps that AI consulting companies follow to help businesses leverage artificial intelligence technology in the right manner. 1. Strategy Formation The first step is to create a strategy or plan of action to adopt AI within an enterprise. Here, the AI consultants will have in-depth meetings with the clients to identify areas best suited for AI integration. These are then prioritized to list the required tools for the adoption process. The focus is on strategizing the right path to create the necessary IT infrastructure and data pipelines to integrate AI tools with existing legacy systems. The availability of resources, cost of investment, duration of the project, etc., are considered when planning the strategy. 2. Evaluating Processes and Possible Outcomes Many AI projects fail to take off or end up incomplete due to a lack of evaluation. Whether a business wants to build an AI application from scratch or customize an existing one, the AI consultants will first determine the feasibility of the process and evaluate the possible outcome. These AI experts will assist organizations in choosing projects with commercial viability and success. This reduces the risk of failure and loss of investment. 3. Implementation and Deployment Now, the major responsibility lies with the AI consulting company to implement and deploy the project (building, integrating, customizing, etc.) as per the approved plan. For example, if a business wants to deploy chatbots to assist customer care executives, the AI consulting team will create the necessary framework to set up AI chatbots and automate their roles at the helpdesk. 4. Training and Maintenance Some AI consulting companies also offer training services. After all, the end user/ employees must know how to work with the application. Training sessions are conducted to educate employees about the various features of the new AI application and ways to deal with errors. Alongside this, the consulting company can continue to provide maintenance services if the organization wants. This ensures that AI experts regularly check the systems for errors and upgrade the features to make sure it offers the latest and expected services. 5. Governance and Compliance The AI consulting company is also responsible to ensure that the artificial intelligence systems developed/ customized for the organization are compliant and meet global guidelines. Ensuring data security and developing data governance systems or protocols are a part of the process. The AI consultants may have to add multiple security layers in enterprises that work with highly confidential data. Types of Artificial Intelligence Consulting Firms AI consulting firms are broadly divided into the following types: 1. Tech Consulting These consulting companies are focused on offering tech (IT) based services. They have expert teams to provide off-shore, nearshore, and IT staff augmentation services. 2. Executive Consulting This is also known as top management consulting. These AI strategy consulting companies help businesses understand how and when to implement AI in the enterprise. Large consulting companies also acquire smaller firms and deal with cross-industry adoption of artificial intelligence. 3. Cloud Consulting These AI consulting companies offer cloud-based services. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are examples of this type of AI consulting. They deal with cloud storage, network management, and cloud computing applications or services. 4. The Top Four Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG are the big four AI consulting companies that have been in the industry for more than 50 years. They offer services to clients from around the world and have premium prices. This makes them cost-intensive for small and medium-sized businesses. 5. End-to-End Consulting Companies like DataToBiz offer end-to-end AI consulting solutions, where they take care of all AI-based processes, from strategy formation to maintenance. The consulting companies may
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