Build Forward
Unlock AI transformation for your business through a seamless engagement with our forward-deployed engineers.
Our AI strike force
Build Forward is Cloud Direct’s specialist AI engineering unit – a forward-deployed strike force of AI experts that builds solutions with you, not just for you.
Our Forward-Deployed Engineers become embedded in your team to co-create tailored AI solutions side-by-side with your stakeholders. That blend of technical expertise with business insight enables us to prototype real, working AI systems that address your unique challenges.
The result? Tangible outcomes in weeks, not months.
Building with you
Our engineers work alongside your existing teams, embedding our expertise into your business. It’s a hands-on approach that delivery results instead of reports.
Rapid MVP delivery
We deliver functional AI prototypes in a matter of weeks, not months. By cutting out long hand-offs and iterating quickly, you’ll see an MVP in less than 10 weeks.
Combined expertise
Each Forward-Deployed Engineer brings deep Azure and AI knowledge, as well as business savvy. They’ll run a workshop in the morning, and spend the afternoon coding your solution.
A strategic partnership
Alongside delivering the solution, we train and empower your people so you gain self-sufficiency. We call it Teach Don’t Sell – a long-term partnership model built for success.
What is forward deployment?
Our forward-deployed engineers are all about action. Instead of lengthy reports and endless meetings, the same people who brainstorm the ideas with you also roll up their sleeves to build them.
We emphasise building with you because it eliminates delays and gets you to proof of value quicker.
Building together
Build Forward embeds a dedicated AI task force into your enterprise. Unlike traditional consultants, our FDEs become part of your team for the engagement either on-site or virtually.
The immerse themselves in your business context and workflows, working with your stakeholders daily. It’s a close partnership model that means if a question comes up, our engineer can turn to your subject matter expert immediately, speeding up feedback loops and ensuring the solutions truly fit your needs.
Our Agile Framework
We follow a phased but flexible framework that takes you from initial idea to working AI solution in a matter of weeks. Each engagement is structured in iterative sprints to rapidly turn concepts into reality while continuously aligning with your goals.
Here’s how a typical Build Forward engagement goes:
Through workshop-driven discovery and interviews with stakeholders, we start by deeply understanding your challenges, objectives, and the art of the possible. Our FDEs listen to your needs and spark discussion on how AI could address your pain points.
By the end of this phase, we’ve identified high-impact opportunities and defined a clear problem statement to solve.
Next, our team works alongside yours to quickly prototype a solution for the top use case. Because the same engineers who consult also code, there’s no time lost in translating ideas into action, and you’ll often have an early demo in days. You’ll soon see initial AI models, apps or dashboards, and we iterate in real-time with your feedback to ensure the prototype is built for you.
Using agile sprints, we evolve the prototype into a robust Minimum Viable Product that delivers real value. WE focus on the features that drive the target outcomes, avoiding ‘nice to haves’ that don’t move the needle. This phase typically takes a few additional weeks thanks to continuous collaboration, and the end result is a functional AI solution deployed in your environment, and addressing the core problem we set out to solve.
Build Forward doesn’t disappear after delivering the MVP. In this final phase, our team provides documentation, training, and support to empower your internal team to own and extend the solution. We often conduct training sessions, pair programming, and Q&A workshops with your IT team and business users.
The goal is to ensure you can maintain momentum after we roll off. Your people will be comfortable with the new AI tools and capable of expanding them.
Throughout these phases, we keep a laser focus on your business outcome. We jointly define what success looks like and that becomes our North Star. Every day, we ask ourselves whether we’re closer to that star or not, and it a feature doesn’t serve that goal, we pivot.
This approach ensures that when your MVP is delivered, it has meaningful impact.
Your Forward-Deployed Team
Build Forward teams are small and elite by design – typical pod of 3 to 5 highly skilled engineers with complementary speciailities.
This lean unit punches above its weight and covers all the bases needed to deliver end-to-end AI solutions while staying agile. Each engineer wears multiple hats: they’re hands-on technologists who can communication with your stakeholders.
Technical Architect
An experienced cloud architect who engages with both your C-level leaders and your developers. They will lead your engagement, from running the Phase 1 workshops to guiding the team’s efforts throughout.
Software Engineer
A coder who can do it all. They’re skills in the whole Microsoft stack as well as agile DevOps practices to deliver quality at speed. This is the person who loves to say “this is what we’ve built since last week’s meeting.”
Data & AI Specialist
The data guru who can wrangle databases, build analytics, and incorporate AI or machine learning into the solution. They’re fluent in Azure data services and will help you make the most of it.
Infrastructure Engineer
From cloud platform to security, this person is the Azure expert who sets up the backbone of the project. They handle cloud environments, networks, identity and more to reinforce the foundations of your project.
Your Frontier Partner in AI
Build Forward offers a bold, frontier approach to implementing AI. It’s not advice on paper, it’s innovation in practice – delivered by a crack team of engineers that become your partners.
We combine frontier technologies with a collaborative ethos to your your AI ambitions into reality. Whether you’re looking to kickstart AI adoption through an inspiring workshop or accelerate a specific use case into production, Build Forward equips you with both the solution and the skillset to move forward fast.
