The Agency Market is Shifting

A recent survey of 264 agency leaders in the DACH region reveals the scale of the change. 21% have already fundamentally adjusted their positioning, and 55% have adapted at least slightly (Agency Report DACH 2026). Only 14% have made no changes.

The driving force behind this is pricing. Artificial intelligence is delivering standard tasks faster and at a lower cost, which erodes the value of traditional day rates. Digital agencies are already taking action: 66% plan to focus their business more heavily on consulting for business processes in the future (iBusiness, Internet Agency Ranking 2026). Currently, technical implementation still accounts for the largest share of fee revenue at 37%, whereas strategy and consulting represent just 14%. This balance is starting to change, and it must continue to do so.

The Pressure is Hitting Professional Development Hard

For the professional development sector, a second trend comes into play. German companies have cut their training budgets by around 30% within two years to about €1,204 per employee per year (McKinsey HR Monitor, via Handelsblatt, May 2026). At the same time, 56% of companies use generative AI, but only 27% have trained their employees to use it (TÜV Professional Development Study 2026, Forsa).

Smaller budgets mean less tolerance for initiatives with unproven results. When budgets are cut, the first things to go are always those with unclear benefits.

Why Content is No Longer a Differentiator

For a long time, creating learning content was a primary reason to hire an agency. Today, artificial intelligence handles the bulk of pure production. In 2025, 62% of organisations were already using AI to generate learning content, yet only 27% of them reported an improvement in learning quality (Deloitte, Human Capital Trends Report 2025).

Content itself remains crucial. What automated production cannot replace is curation, contextualisation, validation, and supervision: the work before and after that turns content into a meaningful answer to a specific goal.

The true difference lies elsewhere. It is found in the diagnostics that clarify what is actually missing before any initiative begins. It is found in the architecture: turning individual formats into a sequence aligned with a clear objective. Neither of these can be automated.

The Origins of SAPERED

We founded SAPERED about five years ago. It began with an inward-looking idea: to create a workplace where people could truly grow and thrive.

We all come from the agency world and had seen a great deal before starting SAPERED. In the L&D space, many ineffective habits have become entrenched: quick delivery with no lasting impact and learning content created without diagnostics. We wanted to change exactly that, putting people back at the heart of the process.

SAPERED was built on this philosophy. This same commitment makes our current repositioning harder for me than it might sound.

What We are Leaving Behind

We are letting go of something that worked for a long time. Clients used to know instantly what an L&D agency delivered: training and learning content. This clear classification was convenient, both for our clients and for us.

Without it, we find ourselves explaining our role more often. Some clients now need an explanation that was previously unnecessary, and we accept that. 21% of agencies have already fundamentally changed their positioning. We are part of this group, and those who cannot or will not change will face a difficult future.

What We Stand for Instead

Today, we stand for People & Organisational Development. Every partnership follows three steps: Strategy, Enablement, and Impact.

Strategy: We translate a business objective into a development strategy for people, aligning it with the organisation.

Enablement: We empower these people to put the strategy into practice within the organisation.

Impact: We make the outcome measurable, based on a key metric defined from the outset.

These three steps are sequential, with each building on the last.

What This Means for Organisations

For companies investing in development, the benchmark is shifting. A provider that only delivers content is competing with an AI system that can produce the same in a fraction of the time. A partner who first establishes what needs to change and how success will be measured competes with no one. This part of the work cannot be automated.

Another aspect that cannot be automated is the personal relationship between people. For us, this connection remains fundamental.

Three Questions for Self-Assessment

If you are currently choosing a development partner or reviewing an existing collaboration, these three questions can help guide you.

• Is there a clear metric of success defined before the first initiative starts, or does the work begin directly with the format?

• Can you pinpoint what cannot be automated in this process?

• In the end, can you prove that something has actually shifted, or does it remain just a feeling?

If you answered yes to all three questions, you are already working with a partner who delivers true diagnostics and architecture. If not, you now know what to ask for.