There are a lot of AI Companies that offer Machine Learning development. Even choosing the right ones for your project could take a decent amount of time, not even mentioning to pick the one that fits.
We decided to help CEOs, established companies, and startups that are looking for AI & ML Developer to save time by going in-depth with top AI Companies in the industry. The focus is on Machine Learning development, and we go beyond basic Clutch.co descriptions to provide you as much insight we can.
To do this we got help from Head of RnD Department Dmytro Kuriatnyk, ML Tech Lead Oleksandr Melnyk and Project Manager Olena Kovalenko. They are a part of the SPD Group and have practical experience in this field. We collected as much information as we could and assessed companies by the following criteria: Response Time, Expertise, Long-Distance Engagement, Management, Types of Engagement and Pricing, Maintenance and Scaling. Each point is evaluated on the scale from 1 to 5, and that’s how we form the overall average rating that is displayed with the name of the company.
So here is our list of AI Development Companies. Hopefully, it will help you find your perfect match!
AI Company from London, UK – 4,3
This is an award-winning consultancy from the United Kingdom that specializes in Machine Learning, NLP and Data Science. They provide full lifecycle consultancy to bring AI to your business. You will talk to the CEO/co-founder that responds in less than an hour.
Expertise
They rely on Python, Google Cloud, AWS as well as other infrastructure services. Offering Senior and Junior Data Scientists with Ph.D. degrees. Using mainstream AutoML models for fast prototyping, they do the bespoke modeling and feature engineering for higher results (accuracy, precision, recall, (F1)).
Their website contains an exclusive AI/ML expertise description. The services are:
- Data Extraction
- AI Development
- Consultancy
- AI Workshop
Among the case studies, there are 10 that implemented AI/ML in the following industries:
- E-Commerce
- Financial Services
- FMCG
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Recruitment
- Retail
- Technology
They have an engine that extracts data from web applications with the open RESTful API.
Communications
They claim to have good communication from remote locations due to a distributed team with offices in London and Portugal. For the conference calls and daily standups, they use Zoom.us. Travel expenses, including hotels, and food, are paid by clients, you can set a fixed travel budget for 1 meeting per month.
Management
Starting a project with this partner you set acceptance criteria that both parties agree on. Sometimes they need to suspend the project for 1 or 2 weeks to collect data for retraining the models. They use Trello for project management and Github for code control and updates. The company assigns a project lead to each case. They run a TDSP management process for Data Science project management. It’s quite similar to an Agile method but enables re-tune the models and iterative approach. You can learn more about it on their website. The development includes 6 stages. The PoC phase usually lasts for 3 months, the scoping could be done in 1-2 weeks. The duration of the other stages depends on the size of a project. You will be able to access the CEO, Project Lead, Data Scientists, Dev Ops, and Software Engineers during the development process. Having the two offices and some remote staff they say it won’t be an issue for the final result.
Types of Engagement and Pricing
The pricing model is Time & Materials, plus a technology license for all third and first-party technologies they use. They presented their daily rates. To make this process easier there is a payment in lieu after 30 days. Meaning they work for 30 days and then invoice for that.
Maintenance and Scaling
After the release, they provide managed services that include retraining models based on evaluation criteria that they can monitor. In the first year, they do this 2 days per month for free. Training of the system or training to improve models if necessary are also provided.
Advantages
- The response of the CEO/co-founder was quick
- The opportunity to meet the team, daily stand ups and set budget is good. But they were unclear about the way they deal with different time zones.
- The usage of specific methodology instead of simple Agile is a plus and not the case for all companies in our list.
- Free of charge models retraining 2 days a month, for the whole year.
Disadvantages
- Access to all company representatives involved in the development process.
- No Fixed-Cost payment model, which will be uncomfortable for some clients
- Trello is a quite basic tool, and not even for IT projects in particular, they can use something more professional.
AI Company from Kyiv, Ukraine – 3,3
Since 2005 they provide professional software development services for the sustainable growth of SME and startups. This company is located in Ukraine and have 50% focus on Artificial Intelligence development. It took 30 minutes to receive a reply from the CEO!
Expertise
While the cases are under strict NDA agreement, they were able to mention Predictive Maintenance for Coffee Machines Case and Prediction Tool for Supply Chain that achieved 85% accuracy. More use cases were attached in the presentation.
Communications
Remote management is their sweet spot, as they say, being aware of the cultural aspects of business collaboration and modern methodologies. Working with companies all over the world from different periods of time they could mention Anagog (Israel) for 5 years, Soraa (USA) for 2.5 years, SoSitter (Canada) for 3+ years. You will be always in touch with the Account Manager and have weekly sync ups with a Project Manager. The average response time is less than 4 hours, using an omnichannel communication environment: Email, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, Hangouts, Skype, Zoom, direct phone calls, and any other tools. Meetings in-person are also being practiced, for example, they are doing 3 days workshop in Singapore now. A client pays for all travel expenses including working hours, per diem, travel costs, accommodation costs and visa costs. The client also free to visit their office in Kyiv.
Management
To form a team Project Manager/SCRUM Master in close collaboration with the Staffing Department carefully assesses each team member. They stick to the SCRUM management model in software development. To ensure that the core team will stay until the very end fair salary and bonuses, possibilities to grow, training and team building, meetings with a supervisor are being practiced. Normally, communication with the Project Manager and Account Manager is suggested. However, you will be granted access to any team member you want to, including developers, QA & BA, PM, AM, CEO, etc. The core team (50%+) is located on the Kyiv office, part of the development team is distributed but it won’t affect the deadlines and budget due to the work of Scrum Masters. They admit that sometimes they actually fail to meet the deadlines, but this happens due to the Change Request, clients delay or operational risks. If the problem is on the developer’s side they raise a red flag to the client ASAP, investigate the issue, develop a viable plan and pay for all extra expenses caused by this issue. The average recruitment time is up to 5 business days.
Types of Engagement and Pricing
There are two main models of cooperation:
- Managed Project services, when the company take care of the project from A to Z
- Dedicated Team services, when the company augments your in-house team with remote talents
The T&M model is recommended in order to provide you with the maximum level of flexibility. Billing and invoicing are fully transparent and client-oriented. The company sticks to USD but is flexible to adjust to other currencies and accept payments via alternative means of payment.
Maintenance and Scaling
According to the attached case studies, all developed projects are supported after the release. Many of the clients engage in another project with this company. However, there is no information on how exactly they support a project and what are the scaling options.
Advantages
- They are offering a big list of services, and the diversity of ML expertise in different industries is impressive
- They can also work with Big Data
- Cooperation with clients in different time zones
- Covering expenses if the problem will appear from their side
- Direct access to every team member
Disadvantages
- Quite a few technical details on their website
- No daily stand ups
- Response time is less than 4 hours, it is quite long
- The rates for their work aren’t mentioned
- Hard to evaluate how they scale projects and support them after release due to lack of information
