Building Intelligent Apps with MongoDB and Google Cloud - Part 1` discusses the challenges of building data analytics tools that provide rich insights, decision support, and continuous learning capabilities. The authors created a simple e-commerce application, `MongoDB SwagStore`, using React and MongoDB Stitch, which saved them hundreds of lines of code and enabled their app to be ready in days. They then integrated Google Cloud ML and TensorFlow to build a product recommendation engine, which uses collaborative filtering algorithms to suggest personalized products to users. The integration was facilitated by MongoDB Stitch, allowing the authors to quickly and easily deploy the recommendation system into their operational app. By leveraging cloud services and APIs, developers can build intelligent apps that deliver insights and intelligence to customers with minimal development effort.