The power of cameras (both video and still) for capturing useful data is almost unfathomable in the digital age. But to be actionable, all the data must have a business or socioeconomic purpose attached to it. Then someone or something must classify it and analyze it to get actionable insights. That’s where computer vision (CV) comes in and saves the day.

This is clearly an oversimplification of CV in an age of discovery where a vast swath of businesses lack a true understanding of what it is and how to use it for business outcomes. Answering those questions for stakeholders and CTOs is the aim behind Techolution’s latest eBook titled, “Computer Vision Use Cases and Their Business Value.”

It all starts with a simple enough premise that explains CV is basically the use of AI (machine learning and deep learning) to analyze, understand, and respond to digital images or videos. There’s a lot of hidden meaning in that sentence coupled with the process, technology, science, and analysis behind the practical application of CV. With the right approach and expertise, the business benefits can be great.

We can see this because more companies are investing in AI as a must have rather than a choice. As an outgrowth of AI, computer vision is showing increasing adoption interest across sectors as companies are predicted to spend nearly $342 Billion on AI solutions in 2021, according to IDC predictions.

Identifying patterns and applying deep learning algorithms to camera data is challenging because of the need for massive data sets from highly varied sources fitting a specific and often detailed visual pattern. This requires a process of pattern recognition, which includes the following, just for a start:

• Object:

o Classification

o Identification

o Verification

o Detection

o Recognition

o Tracking

o Counting

• Facial recognition
• Action recognition
• Forecasting
• Crowd dynamics
• Object character recognition (OCR) — identification of text and numbers in an image
• Document analysis

The eBook delivers plain language that explains what computer vision is, how it works, and some of its many business benefits across industries and sectors. Since computer vision is a bespoke solution, we explore the challenges of making it operational. But for every problem, the eBook provides a proactive solution.

This is where the reader learns why it’s important to have a partnering team with deep experience in CV, cloud services, AppDev, AI/ML/DL and IoT. It’s vital to start with a seasoned team of experts capable of delivering ROI that makes your business a competitive leader in the marketplace.

AI and CV project success is elusive if you’ve never done one, which can easily result in wasting precious time, resources, and money. Success hinges on having vetted people who understand how to work across disciplines to develop and assemble the right processes and technology.

The eBook goes on to show how Techolution has developed both an expert team of data scientists, app developers and cloud platform architects along with their proprietary AutoAI solution. This removes the burden of finding data scientists and other vital team members while delivering either fractional or end-to-end services for bespoke computer vision platforms.

The eBook shows how the techolution team brings together a variety of tools and platform designs via AutoAI. Readers learn how these tools, platforms and experts can work together in combination to deliver cost-effective, long-term AI solutions like computer vision platforms.

The possibilities for business innovation, new markets, growth, cost containment, and efficiency across sectors are nearly limitless. The eBook goes on to provide a few examples of how these computer vision platforms can play out in real-world business terms across sectors and industries.

These possibilities all stem from taking the first two steps of process expertise and defined intent/outcomes to set the stage for project success. That means determining what you need and what you want to accomplish through computer vision by pinpointing what ROI looks like in business terms. The eBook spends a considerable amount of time explaining this foundation to achieving CV business value through sound business vision.

Applying Computer Vision Requires Business Vision

While self-driving cars are the most obvious of the uses for computer vision, even this area has countless varied uses across industries and sectors. There are many established and unexplored possibilities across industries and sectors where CV can be the catalyst for digital transformation in business ROI terms. Things like boosting efficiency and sales while lowering risk, defects, and challenges that create bottlenecks are too abstract to prompt a CV proof of concept, let alone a CV project at scale.

The eBook clarifies that to even think about a successful CV project requires understanding what CV is and what it takes to make it work. But what drives a successful CV project is having the business vision for solving a specific problem or innovating to transform a process, service, or product.

For the business stakeholders and CTOs, the best approach is to reverse engineer things by starting with a vision for the specific outcomes and how it will affect your business, bottom line, market, industry, or competitiveness. We explore a few of the many possibilities specific to industries in the eBook, but a more comprehensive list would include:

• Manufacturing
• Banking and Finance
• Retail
• Pharma
• Agriculture
• Energy
• Telecom
• Transportation
• Supply chain
• Public safety

While the eBook looks at many of these industries and a few of the specific possibilities where CV can address and deliver true business ROI, each business must have the vision to see a specific opportunity to plot a course to realizing it. This requires having the knowledge and resources to build, implement, and operationalize a highly accurate CV proof of concept or system at scale, which requires prior experience in real-world CV use and implementation.

The business gamble is just too great without real world experience in determining proper need and outcomes analysis. Without proven CV experience and expertise, it’s too difficult to ensure proper process, system development, implementation, and management that will yield the specific business outcome metrics.

Making Computer Vision a Business Value Reality

AI and computer vision have an unending lifecycle which must adapt to market, business, and customer changes. This requires an investment in data science, model development, AI cloud services, and app development skills that take it from a business vision to reality.

The infrastructure and development pipeline along with the operational expertise and business cultural change are foundational to sustainable and adaptable long-term business value. This is where the eBook discusses aspects like MLOps, low code, and other vital aspects of an inclusive AI project management approach.

AI models must change and learn to accurately and quickly fulfill their intended purpose. The eBook shows how MLOps supports constant retesting of a deployed model for ongoing retraining against data dynamically to respond to changing business environments and needs.

Every business challenge and opportunity are different, so some are better suited to computer vision than others. This is particularly true of those opportunities that enable your organization to augment rather than replace the human decision-making process. Process technology, data science, and platform decisions range from the camera system to data gathering, cloud and development architectures, model training, and the cultural shift and training for the workforce.

They all require making a host of granular decisions that demand deep experience across and between disciplines. The right combination can drive exploration, investment, and pilots for CV solutions capable of delivering business value benefits like:

• Sustainable growth
• Market Competitiveness
• Increased product and process quality
• Efficiency
• Top and bottom-line growth
• Lower costs and waste
• Improved customer experiences
• Brand loyalty
• Safety and health outcomes, among others

It all starts with having a business vision and understanding how it aligns with the transformational and business value possibilities of computer vision.

To learn more about how to apply computer vision in ways that deliver business value, download our eBook here. Then contact us to talk about how the Techolution team can deliver turnkey or fractional support to help you realize your CV goals.