IBM Forward Deployed Units: 6-Person Consulting Pods with AI Agents Doing the Work of 30-Person Teams
IBM Newsroom·medium signal
IBM Consulting announced Forward Deployed Units (FDUs) — small 6-person pods combining human consultants with AI agents that deliver the output of traditional 30-person teams. Already deployed at Riyadh Air, Nestlé, Heineken, and Pearson. This represents a concrete model for how AI agents reshape professional services: instead of scaling headcount, firms embed agents alongside a small expert team to multiply throughput.