Can you buy your way into being an AI company?
- William Beresford
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Accenture’s $1bn acquisition of UK AI specialist Faculty is one of the clearest signs yet that AI has become a boardroom issue, not a side project. Companies are no longer asking whether AI matters. They are asking why, after years of pilots and platforms, it still isn’t moving the numbers that matter.
Accenture is buying Faculty because its clients want AI capability now — and there is no time to lose. In a market where experienced AI engineers and decision-science teams are scarce, acquiring a specialist firm looks like a fast route to relevance.
But this is where the real question sits. Can AI capability actually be acquired in a deal?
Or are organisations confusing access to expertise with the ability to use it?
In our work at Beyond, we see this tension all the time. Businesses can hire the best people, license the smartest tools and partner with world-class vendors — yet still struggle to get value from data and AI. The reason is simple: AI only works when it is plugged into how decisions are really made. If data is fragmented, if ownership is unclear, if leaders don’t trust the numbers in front of them, then even the most advanced models become just another layer of noise.
That is why so many AI programmes look impressive on paper but fail to change outcomes. Generative and agentic tools amplify whatever they are connected to. If your data is messy, they make it messier. If your processes are slow, they automate the wrong things. If accountability is fuzzy, they scale confusion rather than clarity.
Accenture’s Faculty deal tells us something important about where the market is right now. AI is the new “must have”. Boards expect it. Investors ask about it. Customers assume it. So companies are reaching for the quickest way to say, “We’re on it.”
The harder truth is that becoming an AI-led organisation is not something you can outsource or acquire in one transaction. You can buy people. You can buy platforms. But you still have to do the unglamorous work of fixing data foundations, deciding which decisions really matter, and building the habits that let evidence rather than instinct drive action.
That is what actually puts data to work. And it is why, long after the headlines fade, some organisations will be pulling ahead, while others wonder why their very expensive AI never quite delivered. Don't be one of the latter - book one of our AI Pathway Workshops to get clarity on where AI can really drive value, what foundations you need in place, and how to turn ambition into practical, measurable impact.
