NTT DATA's Fortience Consulting launches an FDE-style new-business launch service for consumer goods makers

Fortience Consulting, the NTT DATA Group business consultancy formerly known as QUNIE, said on October 20 that it has started offering an AI-powered "new business launch support" service to consumer goods companies such as food, beverage and household products makers. Consultants who know the industry's management, operations and IT take what the firm calls a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)-style approach, staying with the client from market research and business planning through validating hypotheses and launch.

The service runs in four steps: knowledge graphs to gather and organize market data and precedents for planning; a business-viability AI agent that tests profitability and feasibility through dialogue; quickly generated test systems or apps to validate the business idea; and AI agents that collect and analyze social media reactions after testing or launch to feed improvement ideas. Pricing and duration are quoted case by case.

This is Fortience's second FDE-branded offering after its AI-driven demand forecasting FDE service for consumer goods in September. It shows how Japan's big IT services groups are adopting the FDE label for consultants who build working prototypes rather than only writing recommendations, which widens the range of FDE-type roles at consultancies beyond classic software vendors.