How can you pilot smaller digital projects in a tight market?

Published in March 2025, the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Digital Learning looks at the market for Suites and Specialist content providers in the digital learning space. Here, Fosway analysts ask how a tight market might affect the prospects of smaller digital learning projects.

One feature of the arduous market has been the sharp reduction, if not drying up, of smaller digital learning projects. These projects, which might previously have gone to the supplier market for rapid turnaround, are now being managed internally with existing resources. Packaging and curating content from internal and external sources meets this need for some L&D teams, but many larger teams are also leveraging internal development resources to author solutions with in-house tools.

Sentiment seems mixed on whether these projects will return later in 2025. Some are seeing positive signals, but most are more cautious in their outlook, and as AI tools increasingly automate design and production, it is unlikely that demand for external production for small projects will ever return fully to previous patterns.

And, of course, there is AI…

Last year saw a profusion of marketing activity and hype around AI. This year, there is real evidence of AI application, as well as greater real investment in solution roadmaps. Customer appetite for AI solutions is strong but there is still a keen eye on risks to security and privacy. For many though, AI investment decisions lie outside L&D, and adherence to company AI strategy / policy is needed alongside a persuasive business case. Statements of ‘responsible AI’ were an early move to overcome these barriers.

Proof-of-concept projects are also helping customers understand the value and implications of AI better. But early evidence from our analysis of AI roadmap activity shows a story aligned more to process efficiency in existing workflows and tasks, rather than rethinking outcomes or new sources of value. Whilst efficiencies are still transformative for customers and vendors alike, the current focus is still on solving problems within the remit of existing practices and operating models. Further out there are early signals of what might be a more fundamental disruption to what L&D has traditionally been tasked to do. For now, though, the reality is more like ‘AI in the human loop’ than ‘human in the AI loop’.

AI automation in content production goes mainstream

The digital learning market is, in many ways, still a content-focused market. Content alone may not be enough to deliver real change or performance, but it is the staple of the industry and an ever-present component of pretty much all solutions. The trend of the last decade towards quicker and lower cost creation has now been supercharged by the arrival of AI. Synthetic media solutions (explicitly on the 9- Grid™ for the first time this year) have been widely adopted by vendors and corporates alike, as have Gen AI tools for design and authoring tasks in digital learning creation.

E-learning production has typically been a repeatable and predictable process; ideal for Gen AI automation. AI-based translation is also transforming time to readiness and costs for international projects. Both these AI use cases have rapidly become commonplace, further eroding the barriers to learning content production as authoring capability is everywhere. Costs of design and production are falling too, with vendors tending to now offer a greater range of solutions than previously possible at comparable price points. AI automation is impacting instructional design also, reshaping the roles needed, as well as productivity and resource planning decisions.

This is an excerpt from the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Digital Learning. Get the full insight and discover all the latest market and solution trends by reading the whole report here.

What should you do next?

• Sign up to be part of Digital Learning Realities 2025 – ignore the hype and be part of the reality of modern digital learning. Share your experiences in this year’s research cycle and get first look at the results.
• How will AI affect the future of digital learning? Take part in Fosway’s strategic AI project for 2025: ‘AI in Learning’.

Other recommended reading

• Browse everything related to Digital Learning in the Fosway Group Knowledge Centre. Find out more here.
• The 2025 Fosway 9-Grid^TM for Learning Systems – full report. Recently released: the latest look at the market and solution trends in learning platforms – get the full analysis today.
• Digital learning needs to demonstrate its value – Fosway analysts ask how providers can navigate a tight market and the ways they can prove their value.

For corporates looking for deeper insight on this and other similar topics, please consider joining our Fosway research network to get access to corporate roundtables, private 1-1 analyst time, benchmark reports and other analyst services or project support. Click here to find out more.

Please also visit the Fosway Knowledge Centre to check out other relevant Fosway research and insights, including filters for segment category, key topics, type of content and vendor-specific information.