Every few months someone declares that websites are dead, SaaS is dead, agencies are dead, and AI will replace everything. Internally, I recently asked our team a slightly uncomfortable question: will Kentico even exist in five years?
It was not a dramatic moment; it was a practical one. We’re living in a very dynamic world and AI is changing expectations at a speed we have not seen before. The software market is maturing. Consolidation is happening across vendors and agencies. When that kind of shift happens, it's healthy to question fundamentals.
To answer whether Kentico exists in 2030, you first have to answer something else: Will the web exist in 2030?
The Web Is Evolving, Not Disappearing
I believe it will. Not because nothing changes, but because digital behavior rarely disappears. It evolves. E-commerce did not kill physical retail. Mobile did not kill desktop. AI won't eliminate the need for trusted digital spaces owned by brands and institutions.
Banks, healthcare providers, membership organizations, regulated industries, and any company operating behind authentication will still need governed, accurate, structured content. In fact, in an AI-driven world, the need for accuracy and governance increases. If an AI agent is answering questions about your brand, it still needs a reliable source of truth. That source does not magically organize itself. It is managed.
That’s where digital experience platforms continue to matter.
There are already tools that generate websites in minutes. That will only get faster and cheaper. But the value of a DXP was never just about rendering a page. It’s about governance, workflows, permissions, integrations, lifecycle management, compliance, multi-channel orchestration, and connecting marketing with measurable business outcomes. Even if AI drafts content or builds layouts, someone has to define structure, approve changes, control access, ensure consistency, and meet regulatory standards. That doesn’t go away.
The Software Market Is Growing Up
At the same time, the software market is entering a new phase. The era of unlimited SaaS growth is beginning to level out. For decades, software expanded without much friction. New tools solved new problems, and budgets followed. That environment is changing. Markets mature. AI accelerates feature replication. It becomes easier to copy functionality. If your only differentiator is your product feature set, you’re in a difficult position.
In the next five years, differentiation will come from trust, brand, ecosystem, customer success, and the ability to wrap services around software. Companies will need to behave like durable businesses, not just growth stories. That shift favors organizations that have strong partner networks, real customer relationships, and operational discipline.
The agency landscape is evolving in parallel. Traditional time-and-material website builds are under pressure. AI reduces manual effort. Clients expect faster delivery and clearer value. Some agencies are struggling with that transition. Others are adapting by focusing on strategy, AI adoption, customer journey optimization, vertical expertise, and long-term advisory roles. Agencies will not disappear, but their value will move upstream. They will win not by charging more hours, but by asking better questions and helping clients navigate complexity.
Evolution, Not Reinvention
For Kentico, the implication is an evolution instead of a radical pivot. Our core remains content management and digital experience, that won’t change. What will change is how we deliver it: SaaS becomes stronger and AI becomes embedded into everyday workflows. The focus moves beyond a website-first mindset toward true multi-channel experience management. The lines between software and service will continue to blur.
For customers, this means your digital foundation remains strategically important. Governance will matter more in an AI-driven environment. The winners will be the organizations that control their content, their data, and their customer journeys rather than outsourcing that control to generic agents.
For partners, it means the opportunity shifts from implementation capacity to strategic capability. Fewer, stronger partnerships. More specialization. More focus on helping clients adopt AI responsibly.
So will DXPs exist in 2030? Yes, but they will not look exactly like they do today. Will software companies exist? Absolutely, but not all of them. The market will consolidate. Growth will be harder. Discipline will matter.
As for Kentico, I am confident we are positioned for the next five years because we are not betting on hype. We are building for governance, trust, service, and long-term customer value. AI is not the end of digital experience. It is the next layer on top of it.
If anything, the control layer becomes more important when everything else accelerates.
It's not the end of software, but a new chapter in how it delivers value.