Gartner is not a fan of FDEs

By 2028, 70% of enterprises will abandon agentic AI built by vendor forward-deployed engineering (FDE), trapped by soaring costs and unable to evolve it on their own according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. Vendor FDE is a model in which vendor engineers work directly with customers to build and deploy solutions.
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Gartner predicts that through 2028, less than 20% of FDE engagements will turn recurring customer needs into capabilities in the vendor’s core product, exposing a growing risk of “FDE washing,” where consulting services are marketed as FDE.

🔗 Gartner Predicts 70% of Enterprises Will Abandon Agentic AI Built by Vendor Forward-Deployed Engineering by 2028