Google Cloud and Accenture launched a new organization to deliver engineering and deployment expertise that helps customers scale AI projects and deliver maximum business impact.
The new Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group combines Accenture employees with expertise in the Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise AI platform, forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), Google engineers and Accenture industry experts to help customers drive AI results.
The Cloud Wars analyst team has deeply analyzed the evolution in how top AI providers work with customers to deliver optimal outcomes, with a strong focus on the emergence of the FDE. Here are several recent analyses that explain customer requirements, the varying approaches, and the emergence of a new enterprise skillset:
- Google Cloud Stands Apart in AI Deployment Wars: Ecosystem Handles 100%
- ServiceNow and Accenture Bet on Forward Deployed Engineering to Accelerate Agentic AI Adoption
- AI’s Shift to Forward Deployment Engineering Signals a New Enterprise Skillset
- Microsoft vs. AWS: AI Deployment Names Show Different AI Visions
In rolling out the new organization, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian noted the customer value delivered by the partnership: “Building on the success we’ve seen with the world’s leading brands, we’re combining Google Cloud’s full-stack AI capabilities with Accenture’s deep industry expertise to deliver transformation at scale.”
In a separate interview with the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said the tech industry has promised customers that AI can drive growth and bottom-line impact. “And they’re like, ‘We get it, except it’s not happening; help us make it happen.’”
Healthcare is one industry highlighting the gap between the promise of AI and operational execution as Sweet noted.
“This is why FDEs are rapidly becoming a strategic priority for the nation’s most forward-thinking health systems and digital health organizations,” healthcare IT leader Joey Meneses wrote in a LinkedIn post this week. He added, “FDEs accelerate time-to-value, reduce implementation risk, and ensure that technology investments translate directly into operational improvement. They bridge the chasm between what vendors promise and what clinicians actually need.”
Here’s how Google Cloud and Accenture are looking to address the gap: the new unit will train and certify a 1,000-person FDE team with expertise across the full Gemini Enterprise portfolio. Four key initiatives will be prioritized:
- Increasing adoption of Gemini Enterprise with proprietary accelerators and an implementation framework for Gemini Enterprise
- Building repeatable, industry-specific solutions that reduce time-to-value
- Bridging the gap between AI experimentation and enterprise transformation with dedicated “capability centers”
- Driving user adoption and the use of Gemini Enterprise-built capabilities at scale
Kurian told the Wall Street Journal that customers struggle to understand how their business processes can be redesigned with AI, and how to make organizational and labor changes as a result of that redesign. The new group is designed to help with that, he said.
This latest initiative from Cloud Wars #1 leader Google Cloud and its giant ecosystem partner is another indicator of the technology, industry, and deployment expertise being brought to bear to help customer outcomes catch up with the rapid pace of AI technical advances. We should expect many more to follow.
