Google Cloud and Accenture are working together on a joint unit dedicated to sending engineers into enterprises to help them better adopt Google’s AI tools and services. The new unit, dubbed Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group, is Google’s latest foray into the increasingly competitive world of “forward-deployed engineers,” or FDEs. Rivals in the AI race, including OpenAI , Anthropic , Microsoft , and Amazon , have all recently launched separate business units in a bet that implementing AI models can become its own trillion-dollar business.
It’s the kind of bet AI companies and hyperscalers increasingly need to make. Hyperscalers are committing hundreds of billions of dollars a year to GPUs, data centers, and power capacity even as the revenue directly attributable to AI remains a fraction of that investment. Google Cloud generated $24. 8 billion in the second quarter, a big chunk of which was driven by enterprise AI. But the commitments behind that growth are enormous. Google Cloud’s parent company Alphabet reportedly accumulated $811 billion in purchase commitments and contractual obligations as of June 30.
This return on investment is not yet materializing in the way companies and investors need it to, so everything hinges on whether or not AI companies can create enough demand for their services. But that demand is not guaranteed, as enterprises themselves are struggling to see a true return on investment on their AI spending. It's conventionally held that enterprises have simply lacked the expertise to intelligently integrate AI tools and services into their workflows in a way that not only saves them money, but helps them make more of it in the long run.
That’s where the FDEs come in as a steady, guiding hand that, ideally, possesses the perfect mental cocktail of business acumen and agentic AI prowess needed to change everything. As part of its deal with Accenture, Google will train up to 1,000 of the consultancy firm’s FDEs to work with enterprises and build custom AI applications on the Gemini Enterprise platform. According to August data from Ramp , Google accounts for roughly 6% of enterprise AI spending among U. businesses, compared to Anthropic’s 43.