What is FDE mentioned in this column?
FDE can refer to the working method of Forward Deployed Engineering, or to the engineers who undertake related work. Palantir's official documentation links it with the engineering team being closer to customer problems and connected to core R&D. In enterprise AI projects, we focus on how to connect requirements, data, construction and operation, rather than regarding the number of days on site as a completion criterion.
The following steps in this article are ChinaOPC original planning suggestions. It can help companies discuss first tasks with small delivery teams, but it is not a unified process for all vendors, nor does it promise a fixed number of days to go live or fixed revenue.
Start with a task that has a clear outcome
Choose a task that involves repeated processing, where necessary information can be obtained, and the business leader is willing to check it together. First record who is currently processing it, where the input comes from, who the output is handed over to, where it is often reworked, and under what circumstances manual judgment is required. If there are still no clear answers to these questions, it is more helpful to sort out the requirements first than to directly purchase models or develop interfaces.
For example, if an enterprise wants to assist employees in finding internal product information, it can first define a type of information, a usage department, and a set of frequently asked questions. This is a simulated topic selection, not a customer commission that ChinaOPC has obtained. After-sales commitments, contract changes and external transactions should not be left to the system for execution by default just because of the convenience of question and answer.
What do customers and service providers prepare?
- Customer: Designate business confirmer and technical contact, provide authorized samples and current rules.
- Service Team: Describe implementation personnel, technical dependencies, deliverables, and unverified limitations.
- Both parties: jointly confirm the result standards, cost boundaries, data permissions and change methods.
- Takeover personnel: Participate in documentation and operation drills before the trial run to avoid touching the system at the end.
For AI entrepreneurial teams with 10 people or less, when accepting corporate projects, they should also explain which roles they can take on and which ones they rely on external collaborators. Customer authorization or acceptance cannot be omitted just because the number of people is small, and there is no need to completely copy the organizational form of a large manufacturer.
Try it first, then decide to expand the scope
A set of approved samples can be used to form a minimum version, and manual review, failure, and modification time are recorded. During the review, check whether it helps target users complete the correct work, and then decide whether to connect a real interface or expand the scope of use. The demonstration is only a stage and cannot automatically be inferred that the production environment is already available.
If the necessary information cannot be obtained, the customer lacks a confirmator, or the effect can only be maintained through increasing manual remediation, the expansion should be suspended and the reasons should be clearly stated. Retaining the stop conditions can control the investment of both parties and help determine whether to make up business preparations, change technical methods, or abandon the topic.
Extended reading: FDE deployment checklist; FDE acceptance and costs; Tencent Cloud ADP capability path.