Esoft featured in major Danish newspaper

Read a full-length interview with Esoft CIO Michael Sloth in the business publication FINANS. The interview revolves around Esoft’s AI ambitions and how AI and people development will go hand in hand in the future.

FINANS, a part of Jyllands-Posten and one of the largest newspapers in Denmark, has published an insightfull article about Esoft and our AI ambitions.

The article features an interview with Sloth, in which he elaborates on Esoft’s journey from IT to tech company, our new AI solution and how AI can be used to unleash human potential in everyday work.

Access the Danish language article here.

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Juan is bringing neural networks into real estate

Juan is bringing neural networks into real estate

Juan Francisco Marin Vega is one of Esoft’s tech masterminds. In his industrial Ph.D., he focuses on using the most recent advances in neural networks to automate and optimize image enhancements.

How can we take the latest advances within artificial intelligence (AI) and put them to use in something as old-fashioned as image editing?

This is the focal point of the industrial Ph.D., which Juan Francisco Marin Vega is currently completing at Esoft in cooperation with SDU, University of Southern Denmark.

 

 

“We are taking the latest advances within sciences such as neural networks and machine learning and trying to capsulate that knowledge in models that we can put into production. And thus get them to work more efficiently, faster and without any error.”

Using AI to eliminate all the boring tasks

At Esoft, Juan is part of an R & D department of top talents within data science and AI, who work on pushing the boundaries for Esoft’s use of AI in its daily operations.

Specifically, Juan works on neural network models that can pave the way for using AI techniques on everyday photo editing processes. For instance the automatic color and brightness correction of pictures used in real estate ads.

“Our main goal is to eliminate all boring and repetitive tasks that our editors have to do on a daily basis,” Juan explains.

Learn more about Juan’s work in the video.

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Data and people must provide the fuel for Esoft's AI journey

Data and people must provide the fuel for Esoft’s AI journey

Artificial intelligence and human knowledge must go hand in hand if Esoft is to succeed in one of its greatest business transformations ever, which will impact virtually every aspect of the organisation: from development and production through sales and marketing to recruitment.

A data science development department consisting of 20 new employees in Denmark alone – including highly educated civil engineers, computer scientists and top researchers, who Esoft has successfully recruited in fierce competition with other companies

A project portfolio of 10+ data projects, including advanced data manipulation and the development of deep neural networks.

And not least a self-developed AI infrastructure which, among other things, will soon result in the first commercial solution in the form of an AI engine to be used in Esoft’s production for, initially, image editing and enhancement.

Data-driven in all aspects of the business

A lot has happened since 2017, when Esoft’s board of directors decided to launch one of the company’s biggest business transformations ever – taking Esoft from being a traditional IT company to being a tech company, first and foremost by integrating AI – artificial intelligence – into a wide range of the company’s processes and solutions.

“The vision is to move Esoft towards being the first company in the industry to be data-driven in all aspects of its business, ranging from mathematically based optimisation of production flow to the development of AI-based solutions that can upscale the business to a larger volume and ensure a higher quality,” explains CIO Michael Sloth, who joined Esoft in January 2018.

Processing power can unleash human creativity

He emphasises that there is a higher and more important purpose to becoming more technology-driven: a purpose that goes far beyond the next annual accounts or the size of the profit margin.

“Today, we humans do enormous amounts of very monotonous, repetitive work, which could be performed much better by a computer. Why not use the processing power made available to us by technological development to place humans at the centre of the refining process, inventing new ways of collaborating and unleashing employees’ creativity? This is one of the core ideas for me, and one of the big drivers of Esoft’s transformation,” says Michael Sloth.

Faster, smarter, better

Therefore, among other things, he has been leading the process of establishing a completely new development department from scratch, hand-picking specialists from, particularly, the academic world. This includes the University of Southern Denmark, with which Esoft is currently doing a PhD project on neural networks for image editing, along with a plethora of other research projects.

These specialists are the ones who will contribute to placing an extra layer of AI on top of the services that Esoft already provides: pictures, text and video for the real estate industry. Just faster, smarter and of even higher quality, thanks to the artificial intelligence.

One example is a form of AI engine that is being implemented in Esoft’s production. Other examples could be classification of housing images via AI or automatic generation of housing advertisements.

“In principle, our imagination and our abilities are the only limits. However, it is important to emphasise that Esoft’s end product will never be AI. We do not develop AI products, but solutions which are made possible by AI,” says Michael Sloth.

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Juan is bringing neural networks into real estate