Machine Learning as a Service is Transforming Business for Good

MLaaS is defining businesses in a new light, for the acceptance machine learning is gaining.

Businesses are dynamic and to hold the interests of customers and shareholders, the tools they depend on need a constant upgrade. With predictive technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and deep learning making their presence felt in every domain under the sun, it is getting imperative that businesses adopt them fast, to catch up with the competition. MLaaS is defining businesses in new light of the acceptance machine learning is gaining. According to a report by Inter Press Service News Agency, the global Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) market was valued at 2103.3 million in 2021 and is projected to reach US$7923.8 million by 2028, at a CAGR of 20.9%.

Machine learning doesn't have pre-modeled strategies for business problems, rather they are custom made and applied for tasks such as customer segmentation, demand forecasting, offer personalization, supply chain optimization, predictive maintenance, billing and coding, fraud prevention, remote surveillance, etc. ML models are tailor-made, depending on the business's specific problem and the factors involved. The model will sift through tons of data you provide to find patterns for a suitable solution.

However, this story doesn't end here. Given the pace at which market trends change, the ways and means of business operation vary within a short span of time. The data and models which a business hold dear may not work for their very next project. Even the existing projects might end up hitting a dead end due to a lack of enough data or a poorly conceived ML model. When data is in shortage, the model might not respond in a logical and consistent manner, creating more problems than it solves. Machine Learning models are only as good as the data it is fed.

MLaaS is more than a necessity for businesses:

Machine Learning as a Service, or MLaaS, belongs to cloud-based something-as-a-service genre platforms, where businesses outsource their Machine Learning operations. This trend is fast gaining popularity among business houses, for lack of money, time, or additional resources. Machine Learning services are basically provided by cloud service providers like Microsoft, IBM, Google, and AWS, delivered through AI tools in the cloud computing environment, creating predictive models driven by machine learning algorithms.

Equipped with algorithms such as convolutional neural networks (CNN), deep neural networks (DNN), Bayesian networks, probabilistic graphical models and pattern recognition models, etc., MLaaS services are suitable for all predictive and analytical tasks such as data pre-processing, model training and tuning, running orchestration, model deployment, etc. These functions can be performed by companies themselves with an in-house ML station and many companies are doing it efficiently. Not all cases are similar and assuming success in every single scenario would be next to foolishness.

Why MLaaS makes a case for providing 'beyond the visible' benefits:

It is a widely accepted fact that outsourcing helps in saving precious time and resources. MLaaS gives developers access to pre-built models and algorithms which otherwise take an immense amount of time, skill, and resources to build. Particularly for Small and Medium-sized companies, which have limited resources at their disposal, and suffer from a shortage of skilled people, MLaaS can quickly bridge the gaps allowing them to focus on their core business activities. For established companies, the possibility of a quick spike in profits with ease and efficiency is always inviting.

Apart from the numerous benefits MLaaS provides, the one which is unique to these services is that businesses can start off quickly without having to wait for infrastructural setup. Unlike other cloud-based services, they do not have to go through tedious and exhaustive software installation processes. The companies literally enjoy the ease of convenience at every turn, as MLaaS data centres handle actual computation. And, here is one indirect, yet very much sought-after benefit: MLaaS provides insights that are beyond the companies' line-of-sight, enabling quick decision making.