3 ways forward deployed engineering is redefining client transformation

The rise of enterprise AI is reshaping the consulting model and client transformation approaches. Over the last year, forward deployed engineering has become a hot topic, and the forward deployed engineer (FDE) role has evolved to be one of the fastest-growing positions in enterprise AI. 

Companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Palantir, Databricks and others are embedding engineers directly with clients to accelerate AI adoption. Consulting firms are now following the trend.

Forward deployed engineers (FDEs) are the ones who orchestrate AI assets, agents and applications into cohesive business solutions, and implement with agentic development approaches—leveraging AI to accelerate AI implementation. FDEs become critical resources as companies scale agentic AI to enterprise-wide implementation. 

Forward deployed units (FDUs) can be envisioned as a small multidisciplinary team made up of FDEs, architects and domain specialists. Furthermore, they can now modernize applications, automate workflows, generate software, analyze data and validate architectural decisions simultaneously. By design, FDUs are mission-critical scalable pods that drive human and digital working as a team. 

When I first looked at the model, I couldn’t understand the excitement. Wasn’t this simply outcome-based client engagement with a different title? The more I reflected, the more I realized I was asking the wrong question.

The difference between traditional transformation and FDU-led approach is not the deployment model, but how AI leveraged AI to drive continuous optimization and unlock new opportunities and scale new sources of value. 

•    AI changes the economics of client delivery: The rise of agentic AI has fundamentally changed the relationship between effort and value. The limiting factor is no longer engineering capacity but understanding where value really exists. That’s why being embedded matters. Context becomes the competitive advantage.

•    Outcome-based transformation has always been forward deployed: Experienced consultants and practitioners have long worked closely with clients. They learn the business, navigate organizational dynamics, identify operational pain points and collaborate with delivery teams. That part is not new. The best client transformations weren’t about delivering technology alone; they were about achieving business outcomes. FDUs do not change that principle; they expand what becomes possible once teams are embedded.

FDUs are deployed to unlock business need and drive an outcome-based approach for client transformation. AI enables organizations to improve across the entire technology stack simultaneously instead of replacing one “squeaky wheel” at a time. It’s to redesigning the vehicle while it’s still moving. In practical terms, it’s not using AI to fix isolated issues, but to reimagine work while businesses continue to run. 

In my view, FDUs led by FDE skills will redefine client transformations in three ways:  

Many organizations still approach AI as another technology program. Client conversations often start with ‘We need an AI strategy.” However, the discussion should focus on ‘What business outcome are we trying to improve?” 

The outcome could be revenue, customer experience, cycle time, risk, cost or employee productivity. All other imperatives could be secondary. The most valuable FDU teams don’t simply build AI. They help identify which opportunities deserve investment and which ones should be abandoned.

One of the biggest risks organizations face today is the AI sunk cost fallacy. Projects continue because significant investment has already been made. Not because they are delivering measurable business value.

FDUs are uniquely positioned to recognize this early. As they operate inside the client environment, they receive continuous operational feedback rather than quarterly steering committee updates. This proximity allows them to redirect effort before millions are spent optimizing solutions that shouldn’t have existed. Sometimes, stopping work creates more value than completing it.

Traditional transformation often treats modernization as a program with a defined start and finish. FDUs should think differently as modernization now becomes continuous—every workflow, application, business process, employee interaction and customer experience in the new AI era. 

Forward deployed engineering represents a broader shift in the market and is driving the next evolution of clients’ business and IT transformations. The focus is on driving measurable value, faster time to value and improving enterprise performance through outcome-based models. 

Success and value creation don’t simply require more engineers, but multidisciplinary teams that combine engineering, architecture, business strategy, AI and product thinking into a single embedded capability. Success won’t be measured by utilization, but by quantifiable business outcomes delivered faster than traditional programs ever could.

That’s the shift.

Forward deployed engineering isn’t a staffing model, rather an operating model for creating continuous business value in the age of AI. Organizations that adopt the FDU model for scaling AI can drive competitive advantage.