Affordable AI Software for Small Business

Affordable AI Software for Small Businesses

In today’s fast-developing technology lifestyle, data has become the most strategic asset for individuals, enterprises, organizations and countries. It is vital for any organization to develop data management strategies, specifically on how to accumulate, secure and use data in the most beneficial way for their consumers and themselves.

Using AI solutions or products is the fastest and most accurate way to accumulate and process data effectively, assuming an organization can get access to these solutions.

Here are the common barriers that make it difficult for SMEs to access these technologies.

1. Artificial intelligence software and development is too expensive.

The increasing number of solutions in the market has lowered prices overall, but cost is still a major barrier to entry for many businesses, particularly startups and SMEs.

In 2019, the Southeast Asian analytics and data science industry grew to an estimated $6.8 Billion market size. However, this growth isn’t exactly representative of the overall progress in the region.

Singapore dominates Southeast Asia with a whopping 44% market share. Second to that is Malaysia at 23%. Other countries like the Philippines contribute 11%, Indonesia 10%, Thailand 8% and Vietnam 4%.

The 2019 Analytics India Magazine study covers only analytics adoption, which is just one part of AI adoption, but the gap from country to country is clear.

Other common areas of AI adoption in Southeast Asia include algorithmic market forecasting and automated asset and infrastructure management.

For those fields, AI adoption rate of companies is led by Indonesia at 24.6%, followed by Thailand (17.1%), Singapore (9.9%) and Malaysia (8.1%), according to the 2018 IDC Asia/Pacific Enterprise Cognitive/AI survey.

Average adoption rate in the whole region according to a 2018 IDC study is at 14%.

Again, the numbers show that very few companies in Southeast Asia are able to push towards AI adoption.

So why is this the case?

The most common barrier to entry is usually the cost. For instance, an AI content planning optimization software for better search engine optimization and traffic conversion can easily cost up to 18,000 USD per year for its basic package.

This type of software allows a company to plan their content, marketing and conversion strategies much faster and much more effectively. It gives writers and marketers a better idea on how to craft content for maximum results without being bogged down by time-consuming research.

It is a great system. However, how many SMEs in Southeast Asia are willing to allocate 18,000USD per year? Not to mention, this system only covers one part of the business.

What about the other parts that need AI upgrades? How much will the entire digital transformation cost?

Creating custom solutions in-house is also a challenge due to a lack of experts in AI, AR, machine learning and other data science fields in emerging markets.

Hiring local talent can save money, but the end result won’t match what more experienced data scientists and developers abroad can generate.

Freelance data science experts charge anywhere from 30USD – 200USD per hour, with average projects costing 400USD per hour according to UpWork’s data.

AI development is thus concentrated in the hands of the very few, who can pay for expensive talent, making AI solutions expensive.

This brings us to the next problem.

2. Scarcity of artificial intelligence and data science experts in key regions

There are so few Data and AI experts, and those few are mostly working for global enterprises or the companies servicing them. This makes the salaries of AI experts and developers extremely high.

Another problem about the AI industry is that the technology is changing very fast. So if one AI solutions expert is developing a customized system, that entire development process will most likely extend. By the time of completion, that system may very well be obsolete.

To make matters worse, the few experts in Southeast Asia have a lot of incentive to grab opportunities abroad. So the already scarce talent-pool becomes even scarcer, which then leads back to higher costs when hiring experts.

3. Fear of job displacement

The other challenge in AI adoption is rooted to its disruptive effects. For instance, AI and advanced robotics have drastically improved the efficiency and output of the manufacturing and service sectors.

As a result, many jobs in those sectors are being rendered obsolete as the industries move toward automation. In a country like the Philippines where around 54% of the workforce are employed under the service sector largely due to the BPO industry, the adoption of AI solutions poses a serious dilemma.

What will the economic impact be on the country if more than half of the workforce is displaced?

While that example is specific to the Philippines, other emerging economies will have similar challenges on the labor front, especially when you factor in all the industries that benefit from AI, such as telecom, financial services, retail, healthcare and education, among others.

Accelerating AI Adoption

Leadeana Group Holdings, Inc. is designed to address these challenges and accelerate AI adoption in developing countries in Southeast Asia. To do so, Leadeana has adopted a two-pronged business model comprised of the following:

Strategic partnerships with leading AI solutions providers from Belarus

Leadeana is the exclusive representative of leading AI solutions providers from Belarus. Most people don’t know this, but Belarus supplies 65% of data scientists working on tech giants. There is a reason why Uber’s driverless car project is being developed in Belarus.

Simply put, Belarus is a tech powerhouse that has been supplying the world’s most advanced tech needs in the past 12 years.

As the link between these leading tech companies, our cooperation allows us to extract the best qualities of each and create even more highly customizable solutions to fit the needs of any organization or any industry.

This flexibility gives us an edge on the variety of problems and situations we can provide solutions for, whether we are looking at startups, SMEs, Multinationals or largescale government projects.

More importantly, through innovative business solutions, Leadeana is able to provide the most competitive pricing to cater to all levels of businesses, including startups and SMEs.

Unparalleled Entrepreneur and startup ecosystem

Aside from access to leading tech applications (AI, AR, VR, Machine Learning, Data Science), Leadeana has access to world experts in Business Development, Science and Technology, and Art and Humanities.

These experts allow us to customize end-to-end training programs for our Entrepreneur and Startup Ecosystem project

By establishing a strong entrepreneurial training ground, Leadeana equips budding entrepreneurs with the skills they need to succeed in an ever-advancing business environment.

Moreover, by giving the proper support to ensure the success of local startups, more jobs are created in the tech space.

Our cooperation allows us to extract the best qualities of each partner and create even more highly customizable solutions to fit the needs of any organization or any industry.