Digital learning market shifts as AI reshapes value and delivery
Fosway analysis highlights pressure on budgets, changing vendor roles and growing focus on skills and shared learning. Interview with Myles Runham, Senior Analyst, Fosway.
The digital learning market is entering a more complex phase, according to new analysis from Fosway, with artificial intelligence accelerating change while economic pressure continues to shape buyer expectations.
In an interview with Learning News, Fosway’s lead analyst for digital learning, Myles Runham, outlines how organisations are demanding clearer value from learning investments, at a time when budgets remain constrained and scrutiny is increasing. Vendors, he suggests, are having to work harder to differentiate in what is becoming an increasingly crowded and fast-moving market.
A key theme in Fosway’s 2026 report is the diminishing relevance of traditional market categories. The distinctions between platforms, content providers and services are becoming less clear, as AI enables providers, traditionally focused in one area, to expand into other category areas. This shift is prompting buyers to reassess how they evaluate vendors, focusing more on outcomes and adaptability than on category fit.
At the same time, several fundamentals remain unchanged. The need to build skills at scale continues to grow, particularly in large organisations navigating transformation and workforce change. Runham also points to the sustained importance of learning together, yet vendors remain slow to respond to cohort-based approaches.
The report identifies digital coaching as an area of growing momentum, but questions still remain here around whether AI roleplay offerings are translating into behavioural change at work.
Compliance learning, traditionally seen as static, is also evolving. New approaches are beginning to emerge, although the pace of change varies across the market.
Fosway’s 2026 9-Grid™ for Digital Learning, also discussed in the interview, maps the performance and trajectory of leading vendors, offering insight into how the competitive landscape is shifting year on year.
The analysis, which pulls from Fosway’s research across the market and sixty briefings with digital learning vendors, reflects a distinctly European perspective, providing a counterpoint to broader global narratives and offering practical insight for organisations navigating an increasingly blurred and AI-influenced market.
Programme links
Download the report: Fosway 9-Grid™ for Digital Learning market report