Two building blocks of data annotation services –Workforce + Platform - NASSCOM Community

Data annotation and labelling represents over 25% time consumed in most AI/ML projects, a challenge that all enterprises struggle with and are now resorting to third party solutions My previous article on The Achilles’ Heel of AI – Training Data, highlighted how training data can make or break your AI model. I further emphasized on the growing demand for data annotation and labelling services in supporting enterprises for their data related needs. Let us dive a level deeper to understand what makes data annotation services delivery a success and what are the prevalent business models in the annotation services space. Source: Data Annotation – Billion Dollar Potential Driving the AI Revolution Data Annotation Building Blocks Successful data annotation services delivery is a function of multiple factors, but the two main building blocks comprise of a trained workforce capable of annotating tool and an annotation platform to enable them to do so. Trained workforce needs to have knowledge and context of the annotation problem and flexibility to deliver basis client’s feedback and the AI model requirement. The annotation platform on the other hand usually has two pieces, the actual annotation tool that operationalises the annotation process and an analytics dashboard to manage workforce and tasks. Let us have a look at different business models that prevail that are a function of different workforce requirements coupled with the annotation platform. Data Annotation Business Models Global data annotation landscape comprises different business models. Organizations can opt for outsourcing options including crowdsourced platforms or managed service providers, while the ones that want to carry out in-house labelling leverage SaaS offerings. I. Outsourcing Data Annotation Options Crowdsourced Platforms This model utilizes a crowd of annotators on a platform Workforce can be scaled with the flexibility in hiring annotators depending on task load Compensation is per task or per hour of annotation Managed Service Providers (MSPs) A managed service provider (MSP) provides project-based services Services are provided either using client’s platform, 3rd party tools, or MSP self-developed annotation platform The services are supported by a service level agreement (SLA) II. Subscription-based Model for In-house Annotation SaaS-based Offerings SaaS based offering enables the provision of annotation platforms via a subscription-based model The platforms combine annotation capabilities and operations management Platforms are utilized by companies carrying out in-house annotation or by MSPs However, enterprises seeking data annotation services often struggle with the outsourcing dilemma between crowdsourcing and managed services. As integral parts of the outsource model, crowdsourced platforms and managed service providers offer different value propositions and advantages based on the requirement of the client. Watch out for my next article for more details on the data annotation landscape.