(Jeremy Vale coauthored this post.)

Source: Flickr and Google Vision API

Brace yourself: Computer vision is coming. “The Long Night” is finally over, and enterprises see the opportunity more clearly than ever. With AI replacing biological rods and cones, computer vision is now a must-have weapon in every firm’s arsenal.

Source: Pexels

Computer vision solutions are spreading like wildfire. While use cases such as self-driving cars (and their failures) and checkout-less stores grab most of the headlines, a far wider swath of mainstream enterprises are reaping immediate benefits. Indeed, 58% of senior business purchase influencers said that their firm is implementing, planning to implement, or interested in implementing computer vision in the coming year.* And vendors offer an ever-growing host of solutions, ranging from using drones to autonomously inspect wind turbines to solutions that measure the emotional response of customers to adverts.

Looking Beyond The Wall

Many enterprises overlooked computer vision previously, considering it too difficult to implement or expensive to pursue. This is no longer the case, as rapid developments in deep learning and cloud computing have made computer vision solutions easier and cheaper than ever before. With increasingly cost-friendly GPUs, established deep learning frameworks, and an explosion of labeled training data, developers are now empowered to build an army of new computer vision applications.

Hold The Door (Open)

It’s time to open your eyes. With opportunities across the business, ranging from insights-driven optimization of your facilities to intelligently segmenting customers, computer vision can augment your organization to solve real-world problems at scale. In our full report, we outline the four most established use cases for delivering business value with computer vision today, provide a list of critical questions for evaluating potential use cases, and offer readers recommendations for seizing the computer vision throne.

(PS — Our sincerest apologies to readers not familiar with HBO’s “Game of Thrones” TV series.)

* Base: 1,314 to 2,264 global business purchase influencers at the director level or above. Source: Forrester Analytics Global Business Technographics® Priorities And Journey Survey, 2019.