You would think that training is becoming dramatically more effective as technology advances. At first glance, I almost bought that myself. Walking around Learning Technologies in London in 2026, the world’s largest learning technology expo, I saw AI appear in some form at almost every stand. I thought I had the answer: the future of corporate training was primarily a matter of technology. Individual learning paths, e-learning, AI coaches and personalized training content would sweep away everything that had previously taken place in person.

The demand data, however, paint a more nuanced picture. In Cegos’s 2026 international survey, 55% of training still takes place in person. Sixty-four percent of HR leaders prefer learning on the job, while 50% favor development formats built around collaborative problem-solving. Group learning is not disappearing.

In the same Cegos survey, the impact on operational performance became the most important criterion for measuring training for the first time. Fifty-five percent of HR respondents selected it, ahead of learning outcomes and participant satisfaction.

This is the truly important shift that companies purchasing training and training providers themselves have been waiting for.

The effects are already visible in the function’s position within organizations. According to this year’s ATD survey of 340 organizations, only 55% of learning and development functions were represented in senior leadership, compared with 75% the previous year. In other words, if learning and development (L&D) cannot demonstrate a consistent business impact, it will not have a seat at the table where budget decisions are made.

Brave new world, learning and development is finally taking responsibility for its own professional work! Nothing to see here either.

Except that a competing service has quietly crept in and removed the hurdles from the track. True, only in its own lane and only out of its own way: far greater sums are allocated from another cost center to the same people and the same time spent together.