Hakuhodo launches an FDE-style consulting service that co-builds AI agents with client staff

Japanese agency Hakuhodo said on October 26 that it has started offering DATA GEAR for AI-Transformation, which it describes as a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) style consulting service. A specialist team goes into the client's business units and works alongside frontline staff, from picking which tasks to use AI on through building, deploying, running and improving AI agents.

Hakuhodo stresses that it is not building and handing over agents. The team includes consultants who understand the business and planners who drive organizational change, as well as engineers, and the goal is for client employees to keep using, building and fixing agents themselves after the engagement ends. The service also sets per-task guidelines on what AI can do alone, what needs a human check, and what humans must decide, and tracks adoption on a five-stage maturity scale.

The launch comes three days after parent Hakuhodo DY Holdings announced a group-wide FDE-style AI transformation service with more than 200 specialists. It is another sign that "FDE" is spreading in Japan beyond software vendors to agencies and consultancies, where the label often covers mixed teams rather than engineers alone, so candidates should check what a given FDE role actually involves.