What Forwardforce does

Forwardforce (株式会社Forwardforce) is a Japan-based, privately held AI implementation specialist and a wholly affiliated subsidiary of Dirbato, a diversified Japanese consulting group. The company provides on-site Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) services that fuse upstream business consulting — field interviews, business-process redesign, AI applicability identification, ROI estimation, and Human-in-the-Loop design — with downstream AI implementation engineering covering prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline construction, integration with customers' existing systems, production deployment, and operationalization. Engagements follow a four-phase structure (Issue Discovery → PoC Development → Production Implementation → Operationalization Support) and run on-site at the customer until the client organization becomes self-sufficient.

The firm's technology approach is explicitly vendor- and product-neutral: it combines proprietary assets, partner-sourced AI capabilities through alliances with domestic and international AI studios, and extensions of the customer's existing enterprise infrastructure (including AWS). Its named AI capabilities span generative AI, natural language processing, RAG-based knowledge retrieval, autonomous generative-AI agents, business-process automation, and predictive analytics. The publicly listed team of approximately 12 senior FDE professionals carries consulting and systems-integration backgrounds from major Japanese SIers, Big-4 and global consulting firms, financial institutions, and global IT vendors, providing cross-industry reach across banking, securities, manufacturing, telecommunications, retail and distribution, public sector, and HR.

Commercially, Forwardforce generates revenue through project-based, multi-phase consulting and implementation engagements under custom-scoped, undisclosed pricing, with a land-and-expand model that extends into post-launch monitoring, accuracy improvement, and horizontal rollout. Operations are confined to Japan; the company is led concurrently by Dirbato Group Founder & CEO Kanayama Yasuhide. No revenue, funding, headcount trend, or financial metrics are publicly disclosed, and the firm is described as newly established, with case-study evidence concentrated in IT consulting and banking.

Name

Forwardforce

Legal name

株式会社Forwardforce

Website

https://forwardforce.co.jp

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Forwardforce is a Japan-based AI implementation specialist and Dirbato subsidiary that deploys Forward Deployed Engineers on-site at Japanese enterprises, delivering end-to-end generative AI projects from issue discovery through production implementation and operationalization.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Implementation Consulting

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Platform Engineering & Internal Developer Platforms (IDP) (BPAEAKAC)

Keywords

• AI implementation consulting
• Forward Deployed Engineer services
• Generative AI consulting
• Enterprise AI adoption
• RAG implementation services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo (inferred from parent Dirbato and Japanese corporate domain)

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) implementation services: Project-based, on-site professional services engagements that walk Japanese enterprise customers from issue discovery through PoC, production implementation, and operationalization to self-sufficiency. Revenue is generated from multi-week to multi-month consulting/implementation engagements, with land-and-expand via continued operationalization and horizontal rollout support.
2. Multi-phase AI engagement (4-phase model): Engagements structured into four billable phases — Phase 1 Issue Discovery, Phase 2 PoC Development, Phase 3 Production Implementation, Phase 4 Operationalization Support — aligning revenue capture to project milestones and extending into post-launch monitoring, accuracy improvement, and horizontal rollout.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Core offering

Forwardforce provides an extended Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) service for Japanese enterprises, embedding engineers directly into client sites to deliver end-to-end generative AI implementation. The service spans four phases — Issue Discovery, PoC Development, Production Implementation, and Operationalization Support — under a Solution-Neutral methodology that combines upstream business consulting with downstream AI engineering (prompt engineering, RAG construction, system integration, and operationalization).

Product overview

Forwardforce (株式会社Forwardforce) is a Japan-based AI implementation specialist and a subsidiary of Dirbato, structured as a single unified service offering — an extended, Japan-adapted Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) practice — rather than a multi-product software platform. The core offering is the FDE AI Implementation Service (FDE AI実装サービス), delivered as four sequential phases: Phase 01 課題発見 (Issue Discovery), Phase 02 PoC開発 (PoC Development), Phase 03 本番実装 (Production Implementation), and Phase 04 定着支援 (Operationalization Support), all underwritten by the company's Solution-Neutral Technology Stack (ソリューションフリー技術スタック) methodology. The service fuses upstream business consulting (field interviews, process redesign, AI applicability identification, ROI estimation, Human-in-the-Loop design) with downstream AI implementation engineering (prompt engineering, RAG construction, integration with existing systems, security/governance design, production rollout, and operationalization). All four phases share the same Forwardforce team on-site, embodying the principle of not separating the "thinkers" from the "builders," and are explicitly designed to leave behind a self-driving customer organization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer) AI Implementation Service An extended, Japan-adapted Forward Deployed Engineer service that embeds engineers directly into client sites, combining upstream business consulting (issue discovery, process redesign, ROI estimation, Human-in-the-Loop design) with downstream AI implementation engineering (prompt engineering, RAG construction, system integration, security/governance design, production rollout). Delivered in four phases: Phase 01 Issue Discovery, Phase 02 PoC Development, Phase 03 Production Implementation, and Phase 04 Operationalization Support, under a Solution-Neutral methodology. Targets Japanese enterprises in banking, manufacturing, public sector, telecom, retail, and IT consulting.

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• NTT Data Group: Japan's largest systems integrator with a significant AI/digital implementation practice serving financial institutions, government, and manufacturing. Competes for enterprise AI deployment mandates, particularly in regulated industries.
• Nomura Research Institute (NRI): One of Japan's largest SIers and consulting firms with a strong financial-services franchise and an active AI implementation business. Competes for the same banking, securities, and large-enterprise AI engagements Forwardforce targets.
• PwC Consulting Japan: Big-4 consulting firm with an established AI and digital transformation practice in Japan. Competes for cross-industry enterprise AI strategy and implementation mandates, often leveraging alliances with hyperscalers.
• Boston Consulting Group (BCG Japan): Global strategy consultancy with an active BCG X / GAMMA AI implementation practice. Competes for the upstream consulting and AI use-case design work that Forwardforce bundles into Phase 01-02, and is increasingly building implementation capability.
• Accenture (Japan): Operates a large enterprise AI and GenAI implementation practice in Japan with deep client relationships and global delivery scale. Directly competes for the same large-enterprise AI consulting budgets but offers AI as part of a much broader transformation portfolio.
• Bain & Company: Global strategy consultancy with a Vector AI implementation practice. Competes for the same enterprise AI advisory and deployment mandates from Japanese corporates, often in partnership with hyperscalers.
• KPMG Consulting Japan: Big-4 consulting firm with a Japan AI implementation practice serving financial services, manufacturing, and public sector. Competes directly for the same enterprise GenAI deployment engagements Forwardforce targets, particularly where vendor-neutral advice is requested.
• Kyndryl Japan: IT infrastructure services spinoff from IBM with a growing enterprise AI and data platform implementation practice. Competes for the production integration, governance, and operationalization work that Forwardforce bundles into Phase 03-04.
• Deloitte (Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting Japan): Big-4 consulting firm with an established AI & Engineering practice in Japan. Competes for the same enterprise AI strategy-to-implementation engagements and has deeper global bench and methodology assets.

Direct peers

• Palantir Technologies: The originator of the Forward Deployed Engineer model. Forwardforce explicitly cites Palantir (and OpenAI) as having validated the FDE approach globally and is the first firm to systematically adapt it to the Japanese enterprise market with added upstream consulting.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forwardforce