Top 10 AI Consulting Firms Today

AI is approaching the next level of maturity, coming out of the hype cycle, says Gartner. Its adoption is expanding across industries beyond automation to building new-generation intelligent products and services for business growth.

Around 90% of companies in the US and UK view artificial intelligence as a priority, with AI projects either in planning or production.

However, half of them acknowledge that they lack the skill to make the most of AI advances. This is where experienced AI consulting firms come in to help.

The market of AI consulting is vast, ranging from tech giants like IBM and Accenture to Big 4 firms and smaller-scale innovators.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 AI consulting firms that have earned a reputation for disruptive innovations. These experts run product discovery and deliver proofs of concept (PoC) and MVPs. This way, they help organizations bring pioneering products and services to the market and build proprietary AI systems for transforming operations.

Let’s explore these top AI consulting companies — they are worth their salt. In this blog, you will find an overview of each of them and useful tips on picking the right partner for your AI project.

Our list of the top 10 AI consulting firms for 2023

1. ITRex

ITRex is a full-cycle AI and big data solutions provider with teams in Poland, the US, and Mexico and a dedicated R&D lab where they design new AI concepts and build prototypes. They are tech savvy in all AI-related fields (ML, deep learning, NLP, and computer vision), delivering AI projects end to end, from preparing data for algorithms to rolling out systems to thousands of users.

Having adopted a start-small-and-scale-up approach, ITRex helps Fortune 500 companies and startups launch breakthrough AI products, apart from automating operations, boosting customer experiences, and supporting smart decision-making.

They’ve delivered quite a number of impressive AI projects, from an AI-powered big data platform for the world’s biggest retailer to a fitness mirror with a personal coach experience, an ML-based clinical decision support system for cancer patients, a SaaS cybersecurity solution using face recognition, and many others. Walmart, 21st Century Fox, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. are just some of their big-name clients.

• Rates: $50 – $99/hr
• Size: 300+
• Founded: 2009
• Headquarters: Aliso Viejo, California

2. Deeper Insights

The UK-headquartered Deeper Insights is fully focused on providing AI consulting and development services, with its expertise spanning from AI exploration to ML engineering, NLP, and computer vision. As they say on their website, they solve their clients’ “impossible problems,” helping them achieve the desired business results.

The company develops custom AI algorithms and ML models using either their clients’ data sets or data collected via their proprietary ML web scraper – the Skim Engine™.

They have delivered many innovative AI projects for big-ticket and smaller clients, including an automated insights app for sales teams at Deloitte, a custom media monitoring platform for the global real estate services company Jll, and bespoke computer vision algorithms integrated with deep learning to recognize body parts in images in robotic surgeries.

• Rates: $50-$99/hr
• Size: 10-49
• Year: 2014
• Headquarters: London, UK

3. InData Labs

InData Labs also specializes in AI consulting and implementation services. As most top AI consulting firms on our list, they offer not only advice but also AI R&D, PoCs, MVPs, and development of AI web/mobile apps, empowering clients with data science and AI technology.

The company helps clients leverage predictive analytics, NLP, computer vision, and intelligent automation to get meaningful insights from data, understand audiences, forecast demand, reduce risks, and eliminate cost overruns.

Examples of their AI-powered solutions include a computer vision system for pose estimation in fitness, face recognition for a surveillance system, image analysis for ticket processing software, and many more. They’ve also delivered different kinds of predictive analytics systems for logistics, eCommerce, sports, entertainment, and healthcare, along with NLP tools for simultaneous interpreting, remote education, and sentiment analysis.

• Rates: $50-$99/hr
• Size: 80+
• Year: 2014
• Headquarters: Nicosia, Cyprus

4. Cambridge Consultants

With over 20,000 sqm of R&F facilities and a 900-strong team, Cambridge Consultants helps organizations develop AI-based products that “will transform how we live and the world around us.”

Being part of the French-based tech consultancy Capgemini, Cambridge Consultants is a big and established player on our top AI consulting firms list, operating since 1960.

Cambridge Consultants is honored for AI breakthroughs in many fields across industries. Projects in their portfolio range from a drone delivery service to military robots using AI-based navigation and reinforcement learning, a proprietary crop spraying technology, an AI system for an automated response to cyberattacks built for the UK Ministry of Defence, and a piano music classification tool.

• Rates: Undisclosed
• Size: 900+
• Year: 1960
• Headquarters: Cambridge, UK

5. ThirdEye Data

Based in Silicon Valley with delivery centers in the US and India, ThirdEye describes itself as a one-stop shop for data science, analytics, and engineering services. Apart from providing end-to-end big data and AI solutions, the company has developed its own open-source tools for anomaly detection and predictive analytics.

Their expertise is recognized by multiple industry awards. Microsoft, Walmart, British Petroleum, and AWS are among their Fortune 500 clients.

The company has implemented over 30 end-to-end data and AI projects, such as an image quality detection system for Southern California Edison, MLOps engineering for XPERI, and predictive metrology for Glas Trosch.

• Rates: $25 – $49 hr
• Size: 51 – 200
• Founded: 2010
• Headquarters: San Jose, California

6. LeewayHertz

Operating since 2007, LeewayHertz specializes in many AI fields, from ML and NLP to computer vision. Among its big-name clients are Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Company, Siemens, and Hershey’s.

With the mission to help organizations adopt AI at scale, LeewayHertz has entered our top AI consulting firms list for delivering innovative AI solutions across sectors. Among its landmark projects in collaboration with an Indian food tech startup, which has resulted in the creation of the world’s first tea-making robot Arya using ML, speech recognition, and NLP. They’ve also built a computer vision-enabled marketplace for AI applications and an AI-based employee time-tracking app.

• Rates: $50-$99 hr
• Size: 51-249
• Founded: 2007
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California

7. DataRoot Labs

DataRoot Labs is a fast-growing company with teams in Ukraine and Israel. As a top AI consulting firm, it helps ambitious startups and startup accelerators turn their boldest AI ideas into reality.

DataRoot Labs prides itself on driving tech innovation by running the DataRoot University, which offers data engineering and data sciences courses.

They have accomplished a great number of projects around computer vision and other AI technologies for clients, delivering, for instance, a solution for defect detection in solar panels, a personal coach app, an in-store customer activity tracking app, an empathetic virtual assistant, and many others.

• Rates: $51-$99/hr
• Size: 10-49
• Founded: 2016
• Headquarters: Kyiv, Ukraine

8. Azati Software

Creating fully functional AI solutions since 2016, Azati Software shares its expertise on a consultancy basis across AI fields, from supervised/unsupervised learning to NLP, computer vision, predictive analytics, and conversational AI.

Their featured AI-based projects include a data processing tool to analyze inputs from oil and gas meters using ML and computer vision, an ML model for pharmaceutical marketing, a semantic search engine to tap into scientific datasets, and an AI-powered app that changes the interior of smartphone pictures.

With an R&D center in Poland, this top AI consulting firm successfully helps clients translate their AI vision into prototypes and MVPs.

• Rates: $25-$49/hr
• Size: 150
• Founded: 2001
• Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland

9. Tooploox

The EU-based AI consultancy Tooploox has built its AI expertise by working extensively with US startups, innovators, and VCs.

With the mission to improve people’s lives through cutting-edge technology, Tooploox has extensive R&D capabilities that have widened after the company joined forces with Microscope IT, a development shop offering AI-related services for healthcare, medtech, and life sciences. Their skillsets around AI now extend to computer and 3D vision, deep learning, sensor fusion, NLP, data capture & OCR, and beyond.

Tooploox has been recognized for its research at international conferences, such as NIPS and ICML. They are also known for building Virtum, an AI-powered image analysis system that helps spot cancer cells.

• Rates: $100-$149/hr
• Size: 150
• Founded: 2012
• Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland

10. Addepto

Addepto is another fast-growing company that deserves a spot on our list of top AI consulting firms. It was established in 2017 and now helps companies grow with the power of data and AI.

With expertise in all data-related fields, the Addepto team has won the trust of a few Fortune 500 companies, which they support in creating complex AI solutions. Among them are Citibank and P&G.

Addepto has helped build a digital twin monitoring airport operations, an intelligent passenger and baggage tracking system, a shipping schedule and inventory management system using predictive modeling for the world’s second-largest aluminum company, and an ML-powered demand forecasting tool for postal services.

• Rates: $50-$99/hr
• Size: 10-49
• Year: 2017
• Location: Warsaw, Poland

How to choose your AI partner - Tips from the ITRex CTO

Reducing a lot of options available in the AI consulting market to just a few should make life simpler. However, you still need to choose only one of them at the end of the day. What should you consider? We’ve asked ITRex CTO Kirill Stashevsky, who has over 15 years of experience helping companies deliver innovative solutions, to share his tips. Here they are:

• [ ]1. Explore the vendor’s website to make sure they indeed offer AI consulting services, not just development.

This can be especially helpful for those with little or no technical background. The thing is, an experienced consulting partner might figure out a more elegant tech solution for translating your vision into a reality. This solution can be cheaper, quicker, and more efficient than the one you had in mind. The latest AI breakthroughs can be fascinating, but it is useful to make sure first before any coding begins that they are exactly what you need to build a fascinating product.

A good AI consulting firm would be happy to look at your vision from different perspectives and give you free advice over the phone. Don’t hesitate and ask for it first.

• [ ]2. Look through the vendor’s portfolio to check if they delivered a similar solution in the past.

Companies’ portfolios with featured projects or case studies are a great source of valuable information. They let you understand which clients they served and what projects they accomplished previously.

It is best to reduce your list of top AI consulting firms to companies that have a demonstrable experience with what you are trying to achieve. These guys should know your domain well so you will speak the same language with them without having to waste time explaining the basics. They are also likely to know all the potential pitfalls that might be typically encountered on a journey like yours.

However, don’t be too quick to strike off a vendor of your choice that doesn’t have the exact expertise you are looking for. The firm can still be a perfect fit for your project if they specialize in AI consulting services (see the first tip).

• [ ]3. Do a bit of homework to define your business objectives clearly.

Instead of contacting all the 10 or 20 companies on your top AI consulting firms list to discuss your future product, prepare a one-pager describing what you are trying to build from the business point of view, and send it out. Some vendors would reply they don’t know how to help; some might figure out how they can implement your idea best, while others might offer you cost-efficient customization of a tool already in the market. This way, you will narrow down your list quicker, saving time and energy.

• [ ]4. Don’t forget about social proof

Check out previous reviews from clients who partnered with the company and the company’s rating. This information can be found on sites like clutch.co or goodfirms.co. Ask your acquaintances, colleagues, and people you meet at hackathons and industry conferences — they might have heard something about a firm of your choice. You can also ask the vendor for feedback from their previous clients.

Wrapping it up

Artificial intelligence is already profoundly impacting our daily lives while transforming the business landscape. PwC estimates that AI could add more than $15 trillion to global GDP by 2030, meaning that it has the potential to change the way we live completely. Capitalize on the emerging trend and put your company at the front of the line by partnering with the right AI consulting firm.

Originally published here.