AI projects are stalling at mid-market firms – Google Cloud and Accenture want to solve that

Accenture and Google Cloud have announced a new partnership aimed at driving AI adoption rates for mid-market firms amid sluggish deployment progress.

As part of the scheme, the duo will provide firms with a suite of six industry-specific agentic AI solutions designed to help push projects from pilot to production.

These solutions cover intelligence and growth, customer experience, cybersecurity, business operations, industry solutions, and workforce enablement.

"The companies that will define the next decade aren't waiting — they're building,” said Rajendra Prasad, technology reinvention engine lead at Accenture.

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“Accenture Edge offerings built with Google Cloud technology help mid-market organizations do exactly that. They can deploy solutions in weeks and get measurable outcomes at the scale, budget and speed that they need to grow."

The collaboration will see Google Cloud provide the underpinning infrastructure and AI solutions to support organizations, including the Gemini Enterprise app, Gemini Enterprise Agent platform, and Agentic Data Cloud.

Accenture, meanwhile, is set to provide forward deployed engineers (FDEs) to offer guidance and technical support for participating firms.

Forward deployed engineers are in vogue

The move by the duo comes amidst a sharpened focus on driving enterprise adoption of AI and agents. The use of FDEs, in particular, has taken off as providers look to embed specialists within customer teams to support projects.

Last week, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft both announced plans to invest heavily in FDE-related efforts, with the aim of hiring thousands of engineers in the coming years.

As ITPro reported, FDEs could become a key growth area for the industry moving forward, with big tech providers providing more bespoke support for customers.

Kevin Ichhpurani, president of Google Cloud’s global partner ecosystem, said the scheme will provide businesses with the “full power” of the hyperscaler’s product portfolio.

“We’re seeing tremendous demand as mid-market enterprises adopt AI agents to fundamentally reinvent their business workflows," Ichhpurani said.

"The launch of Accenture Edge brings the full power of Google Cloud’s entire portfolio including enterprise AI, our Agentic Data Cloud and AI Threat Defense directly to this sector. Together, we’re enabling mid-market companies to confidently scale AI across their organizations for growth.”

Driving mid-market adoption

According to Accenture, mid-market firms – or those with revenues of between $300 million and $3 billion – have largely been locked out of large-scale AI transformation due to complexity and integration barriers.

A recent study from Klarus highlighted the significant challenges faced by mid-market enterprises on this front. While nearly three-quarters (73%) have deployed AI solutions, around 90% of projects remain stuck or stalled in the pilot stage.

Although up to 94% of leaders feel confident about AI deployment, lack of expertise and governance concerns are causing projects to fail.

Mid-market firms aren’t alone in AI deployment challenges, however. Research from MIT last year found around 90% of all generative AI pilots fail, while similar research from Gartner warned up to 40% of agentic AI adoption programs are expected to fail.

These organizations are in a prime position to fully capitalize on the technology, however. Klarus CTO Alper Gunaydin said mid-market firms have the advantage of agility compared to larger competitors.

“Mid-market companies have a real advantage because they can often move fast, particularly when it comes to technology transformation. We see this agility in action when companies are turning to AI and automation to address productivity and accelerate growth," Gunaydin commented.

"However, our research shows that too many pilots stall because companies lack AI expertise, quality data and effective governance. Making that agility count requires clear priorities, strong foundations and access to senior expertise, all of which will help translate investment into tangible business outcomes and unlock growth without increasing the cost base.”

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