AceUp partners with NTT DATA Business Solutions on leadership coaching

AceUp, a leadership coaching platform focused on enterprise performance, has entered a partnership with NTT DATA Business Solutions, an IT service provider focused on SAP. Under the arrangement, NTT DATA Business Solutions has deployed the platform across selected internal cohorts to develop high-performing employees' leadership capabilities as part of its AI adoption strategy.

Digital adoption and transformation roadmaps typically depend on middle managers, who implement new processes, onboard colleagues, and champion tools that sustain a competitive advantage. According to MIT, 95% of generative AI pilots fail because of a critical learning gap affecting both tools and organizations, which leads to weak implementation within workflows. The partnership represents another step in NTT DATA Business Solutions' growth in the AI era.

The platform pairs human-led coaching with AI-powered coaching that is embedded in existing workflows and available on an always-on basis. Its AI coaching companion, Ally 3.0, draws on contextual knowledge about individual users, their immediate teams, and their wider organization. The offering combines one-on-one leadership coaching, team coaching, and AI coaching, delivered within the flow of work in Slack, Microsoft Teams/365, and Google Workspace.

NTT DATA Business Solutions applied the platform to select coaching cohorts. Over a six-month period, those cohorts recorded a 15% improvement in time management, organization, and productivity; 18% greater efficacy in communicating and influencing stakeholders; 22% progress in managing conflicts and difficult conversations; a 14% rise in collaboration across the organization; and 23% adoption of a coaching approach to management.

Will Guillaume Foussier, CEO and Co-Founder of AceUp, said: “Organizations must close the learning gap holding back effective AI adoption, and that starts with equipping managers to succeed as both champions of AI transformation and human-centered leaders.”

Scott Conklin, Executive, Head of People & Culture North America at NTT DATA Business Solutions, said: “The program has not only improved individual and team performance, but also supported the leadership behaviors required for meaningful AI adoption.” The companies described managers continuing to draw on the coaching to support digital transformation, implement AI use effectively, and strengthen successor potential.