Why Open Source NLP Libraries Have the Edge on Cloud Services

The business value of natural language processing (NLP) is indisputable, and there's never been a time this technology has proven to be so useful. Just think: in the rapid shift to remote work in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, companies have leveraged NLP for everything from chatbots used to effectively onboard workers remotely, to safely interfacing with patients in healthcare settings. It's especially encouraging to see that, despite IT budgets being on a downturn (Gartner), enterprise leaders have not shied away from NLP investments. In fact, according to new research, survey respondents across industries, company sizes, and geographic locations reported increases in their organization's NLP technology budgets from 10-30% more compared to last year. With the proliferation of NLP services in the cloud, companies need not even install and manage open source NLP libraries.