Coveo says its Forward Deployed Engineering team is nearing full scale after 40+ customer engagements, with the cost folded into subscriptions

Coveo (TSX: CVO), the Montreal-based enterprise search and "Experience AI" vendor, used its fiscal Q2 2027 results on October 29 to give an update on its Forward Deployed Engineering initiative. CEO Laurent Simoneau said the team is approaching full scale and has completed more than 40 customer engagements. He said it is already helping retention and expansion and gives the product roadmap a tighter feedback loop from customer needs.

The business model stands out. CFO Karine Hamel said FDE work is included in the SaaS subscription and earns no separate revenue; the cost is booked within cost of subscription. Executive Chairman Louis Têtu described FDEs as a land-and-expand lever: once they are involved, they show customers more use cases and help with conversion, pricing power and account growth. At the same time, Coveo is shifting more traditional implementation work to systems-integrator partners and expects lower professional-services revenue.

For FDEs this is another sign that mid-size SaaS vendors are treating forward deployed engineering as a customer-success and expansion function paid for out of subscription margin, not as billable consulting. Simoneau said the team is close to its target headcount, but Coveo could grow it further if the opportunities justify it.