Skip to content
  • What we do

      Technology

      Application development
      Cloud and infrastructure
      Data migration
      Data science and analytics
      IoT enablement
      Modern data estate
      Modern workplace
      Video analytics

      Services

      Support engineering
      Localization

      Products

      Lightweight data virtualization tool

      Advanced video analytics solution

      Strategy

      Data Science
      Maturity Assessment

      Assess your data science maturity (or readiness) to receive a custom report with industry best practices

      Take the assessment
  • Our approach
  • Our work
  • Insights
  • Careers
Connect
Back to insights

You don’t always need an expensive data science team

By Eric Vogelpohl

Big data has been a buzzword for over a decade, and people are often still just as mystified about what to do with their data now as they were back in the 2010s. Trying to capitalize on their newfound commodity, companies producing large quantities of data needed people who knew how to work with it, leading to data science becoming recognized as an emerging discipline.

As one author explains it, data scientists “combine the skills of software programmer, statistician, and storyteller/artist to extract the nuggets of gold hidden under mountains of data.” Companies pay top dollar, sometimes to their detriment, for this valuable set of skills that will help companies leverage existing data to create business growth. Businesses can end up hiring data scientists before they are ready to dive into the world of AI and machine learning, resulting in a highly paid team doing simple data integration and reporting.

While it is important for any company to build a proper foundation that can provide quality data to data scientists, that’s not our topic today. (Read about those building blocks here.) Instead, let’s look at available AI tools that can give companies a quick return on investment. Technology has become so advanced that we’ve reached a point where companies don’t always need a team of data scientists to be able to utilize AI capabilities. There is an appropriate time for a top-notch data science team to join a project. Their specialized skillset is unmatched and required for advanced AI and machine learning projects, but bringing in data scientists no longer needs to be the knee-jerk reaction.

Historically, if a company started asking questions about prediction, anomaly detection or identifying things in pictures, they were entering the domain of data science. However, Microsoft has put those capabilities into the hands of any developer with the launch of Cognitive Services. An application developer or business analyst, any technical person with no machine learning expertise, really, can now tap into the world of AI solutions.

Cognitive Services are broken into five categories:

Microsoft Cognitive Services - Vision

Vision

Analyze images and videos for desired information; image recognition; identify people and emotions

Microsoft Cognitive Services - Speech

Speech

Transcribe audible speech into readable, searchable text; convert text to speech; real-time speech translation; speaker recognition

Microsoft Cognitive Services - Language

Language

Build natural language understanding into apps, detect sentiment, key phrases and named entities, translation

Microsoft Cognitive Services - Decision

Decision

Anomaly detection, content moderation, personalization

Microsoft Cognitive Services - Search

Search

Crawl PDFs, scanned documents, etc., and search those files

This is a whole new set of data-science-like capabilities that allow companies to take advantage of the complexities and capabilities of artificial intelligence without needing a team of data scientists.

Blueprint, for example, designed and built an end-to-end reporting and invoicing process for a client that eliminated time-consuming manual processes and the need for an expensive third-party vendor. Azure Cognitive Services enabled the solution, which Blueprint planned, built and launched for the cost of one year’s license with their vendor, to scan physical field tickets and create metadata to match each ticket to the appropriate data reps entered in the field. This then triggered an invoice to be sent to a customer. (Read the whole story here.)

Going even further, Uber used Cognitive Services’ face recognition function to help ensure the driver using the app matches the account on file with the company. It’s important to Uber that the driver that shows up for a ride matches the driver account on file. The company says that’s both to protect riders and help ensure the driver’s account hasn’t been compromised. So, Uber added photo-matching technology to its driver screening methods, requiring a driver to take a selfie periodically to compare the actual driver with the driver’s photo on file. The company considered developing the technology but realized that would require a lot of time. Uber was able to integrate the Cognitive Services API to its platform in just three weeks (it was still in preview at that time).

The opportunities that come from these capabilities are nearly endless. An oil production company could monitor gauge readings from images and set alerts for abnormal readings. A manufacturer could set an audio alert to notify someone if something in the factory is not running correctly because the audio in the facility changed or set up image alerts to notify someone if people on the production floor are not wearing hard hats. A quick-service restaurant could use images to collect visitor sentiment and demographics about their in-store customers to better understand their customer makeup during different dayparts.

Whether you are wondering how best to utilize these tools or want to focus on more advanced machine learning, Blueprint’s expertise in application development and data science will help you find the best way to solve your critical business problems. Let’s start a conversation about your business needs and how we can help you identify and develop the best solution.

Let's build your future.

Contact us

Share with your network

You may also enjoy

Article

Connecting your Point-of-Sale data to enhance your customer loyalty program

From stranger to super-fan: 5 ways to give customers what they want, when they want it

Traditionally, customer loyalty programs focus strictly on signups and discounts. That’s not enough anymore. The solution lies in connecting your data to your customer experience.

Article

Customer personalization is a must in the dining industry

 What the top QSR chains are doing that others aren’t 

Since the peak in sales during the Covid-19 shutdown, fast food traffic has continued to see its post-pandemic decline. Consumers still want fast food, but they don’t want to go back to pre-pandemic times. They have new demands.

What we do

  • Cloud and infrastructure
  • Data migration
  • Modern data estate
  • Modern workplace
  • Data science and analytics
  • Application development
  • IoT enablement
  • Video analytics
  • Support engineering
  • Localization
Menu
  • Cloud and infrastructure
  • Data migration
  • Modern data estate
  • Modern workplace
  • Data science and analytics
  • Application development
  • IoT enablement
  • Video analytics
  • Support engineering
  • Localization

Our approach

  • Business strategy
  • Facilitated innovation
  • Project Definition Workshop
  • Course of Action Assessment
  • Proof of Concept
  • Product development
  • Solution development
  • Managed services
Menu
  • Business strategy
  • Facilitated innovation
  • Project Definition Workshop
  • Course of Action Assessment
  • Proof of Concept
  • Product development
  • Solution development
  • Managed services

Our work

Insights

Careers

Contact us

Nash Video Analytics
Linkedin Youtube Twitter Facebook Instagram
© 2022 Blueprint Technologies, LLC. 2600 116th Avenue Northeast, First Floor
Bellevue, WA 98004

All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy

  • What we do
  • Our approach
  • Our work
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • Connect
Menu
  • What we do
  • Our approach
  • Our work
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • Connect
Follow
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Menu
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram