The Forrester Wave™: AI Services, Q2 2024

AI Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

Key features and pros and cons of top AI Services products:

Boston Consulting Group - Leaders

Pros:

Excels at delivering AI with business impact
AI business impact stands out by linking AI solutions to financial measures such as EBIT and P&L
AI design and development talent stands out for AI expertise, implementation, long tenures, rigorous internal genAI certification, and external recognition
Provides robust community to clients including peer-to-peer opportunities and networking with AI luminaries
Staffs more engineers and designers on projects to address entire AI solution and platform
Clients can drive higher AI outcomes and create self-funding model for subsequent AI phases

Cons:

Agnostic partnering strategy can limit wider partnership benefits
Could improve by expanding services to build out an AI COE driven by metrics to link best practices and enablement to business outcomes

Capgemini - Leaders

Pros:

Delivers on change management
Innovation strategy stands out by incorporating co-innovation and collaboration with clients
Excels in strategic areas of vision, innovation, and community
Maintains deep community of networking channels committed to diversity, inclusion, and AI for good
Excels at change management and ongoing executive education and coaching
Approaches change management from day one with integrated approach to connect use cases, AI risk management, governance, and organizational change
Change management approach built from Capgemini's own business experience and processes
Investment evident with uses of federated learning and expertise from Frog Design

Cons:

Pricing flexibility and transparency is a weak spot
Large portion of revenue continues to be time and materials where peers have shifted toward outcome-based pricing

Accenture - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong AI business impact
Most prevalent AI services provider in the market
Heavily invests in AI innovation including engagement with vast startup ecosystem
Maintains center for applied research with dedicated expertise to focus on AI R&D
Pricing and packaging flexibility stands out with significant number of joint venture partnerships
Demonstrated metric-based approach to driving business value
Large, multinational set of clients across industries

Cons:

Limited in business strategy and AI design and development
Inclusion of business expertise in applied AI projects is limited
Focused on predetermined solution with technical innovation rather than helping with broader business innovation and AI sustainability
Reference customers desired more business expertise and better handoff in project ownership

Deloitte - Strong Performers

Pros:

Stands out at partnering with clients to transform business with AI
Partner ecosystem and innovation are points of excellence
Business strategy stands out as key strength
Visibly improved link between business know-how and applied AI
Case studies demonstrated peer-to-peer partnerships with executives and leadership
Modernized operations and top-line impact evidenced by journey from POC to enterprise-ready solutions in short time
One of larger AI services providers with visible growth in AI business
Notable improvement in employee satisfaction

Cons:

Change management needs improvement
Business consulting to help with organizational and technical readiness less connected to AI projects
Clients need separate engagements to cover organizational readiness areas
Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process

EY - Strong Performers

Pros:

Ensures business impact
Delivers business impact through strong design, architecture, and development approach
Clear and notable model for creating AI financial strategy and story for executives and board
Links financial strategy to customer-journey-metric model for proven, above-average AI results
Holistic design, architecture, and development approach
Balanced strategy across vision, community, partner ecosystem, and pricing flexibility
Variety of flexible pricing options including credits to proceed from discovery to delivery
Large AI revenue stream and customer base

Cons:

Innovation strategy can be advanced - concentrating on talent
Technical innovation occurs as part of projects rather than dedicated investment and focus
AI risk management limited to AI governance, missing stronger support to protect against third-party risk
Reference customers indicated need for more global resources

McKinsey & Company - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong in change management
Powerhouse when it comes to blending business and technology for AI results
Strong CEO relationships are strategic advantage
Innovation folded into ethos with strong R&D community and open-source participation
Business strategy, AI risk management, and change management are strengths
Starts with business operations frameworks rather than technical solutions
Dedicated program for AI risk management assuring contracts, AI projects, third-party use, and cybersecurity
Notable change management with playbooks and frameworks based on cognitive behavioral training

Cons:

Could have stronger genAI approach
Talent strategy has lower investment than peers, concentrated on typical trainings and bootcamps
Highly selective about partners and remains agnostic
GenAI experience and solutions appear more internally focused
Reference customers seek more attention on long term and noted projects can be pricey

Bain & Company - Contenders

Pros:

Emerges with strategic strengths
Stands out in talent strategy with personalized guidance for AI talent
Business expertise embedded in AI business and technical consultants
Sets the bar with business strategy and AI COE
Notable AI COE approach links top-line business and AI frameworks
Team of 11,500 business consultants, quarter with AI/ML project experience
Deep expertise through very early partnerships with OpenAI to use genAI
Reference customers praised integration with teams, solid education resources, and quick building

Cons:

Currently lacks scale - smallest AI business among evaluated providers
Vision, innovation, and pricing flexibility more limited than peers
Strategy maintains boutique quality in sea of larger vendors' AI ambition
Executive education and coaching and change management more limited
AI governance and risk management emerging and focused at project level
Use of genAI as catalyst for offering is small
Reference customers disliked high cost of services

KPMG - Contenders

Pros:

Stands out in AI risk and governance
AI talent strategy is flexible, competitive, and comprehensive
Recognized as top Learning Services Company in 2022
All AI talent grounded in responsible AI
Stands above rest in AI risk management and governance
Focused commitment to risk and governance in all service areas
Robust assessment across risk, regulations, ethics, operations, and technology
Large AI customer base
Reference customers gave high marks in AI risk management and governance

Cons:

Misses out on transformative AI
Vision is narrow and concentrates on AI trust and responsible AI
AI investment smaller than peers
Concentration on risk and governance comes at detriment of other AI services
Less sophisticated capabilities in business impact, change management, AI COE, executive education
Revenue lower than peers
Reference customers noted KPMG missed needs for bolder solutions

PwC - Contenders

Pros:

Partner ecosystem is a strength - AWS Premier Tier partner, 2023 Azure AI/ML partner of the year
First to implement ChatGPT Enterprise in partnership with OpenAI
Stands out in design, architecture, and development approach
Stands out in executive education and coaching
Business and consulting teams fully partner with executives and users
Client executives have dedicated AI training projects with personalized curricula
Reference customers noted technical and business consulting overdelivered on AI project expectations

Cons:

Lacks bolder strategy and operational focus
Vision, innovation, community, talent, and pricing flexibility lag peers
Funding for training talent large but not as widespread or diverse
Less significant leadership role at notable AI events
AI risk less developed than peers, focused on defense and loosely connected with AIOps
GenAI leans on implementation of partner models vs. novel applications
Reference customers want projects to go faster and have more flexible pricing options

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2024?

A: Boston Consulting Group, Capgemini

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

A: Leaders excel at delivering AI with business impact by linking AI solutions to financial measures, demonstrating strong talent expertise, providing robust client communities, and helping clients become more competitive with AI through innovative solutions and pragmatic approaches led by business expertise.

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

A: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

Report:

Top Vendor Products for AI Services in 2024

AI Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2024?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

Reference