AI Is Driving a New Era of Software Rebundling, Says Dominique De Cooman

Artificial intelligence is reshaping software markets in much the same way it is reshaping digital agencies, according to a recent essay by Dominique De Cooman. Building on Dries Buytaert's argument that agencies must rebundle around strategy, governance, and outcomes as AI reduces the cost of production work, De Cooman contends that software platforms are entering a similar phase of rebundling. According to the article, AI is rapidly commoditising standalone features and point solutions that previously supported independent software categories.

The essay cites recent marketing-technology industry data showing continued turnover among thousands of specialised products, while many AI-powered point solutions are absorbed into larger platforms. De Cooman argues that value is increasingly shifting toward what he describes as a "middle layer" focused on context, governance, orchestration, permissions, decision-making, and operational workflows. Rather than returning to traditional monolithic software, the article describes a new generation of integrated platforms designed to provide coherent operational environments for both humans and AI agents.

A significant portion of the article examines two competing models for this rebundling process. One path centres on proprietary suites from vendors such as Adobe, Salesforce, Sitecore, and Optimizely, which are increasingly integrating content, analytics, customer data, automation, and AI capabilities into unified platforms. The alternative path proposed by De Cooman relies on open-source ecosystems that combine similar capabilities while preserving data ownership, portability, interoperability, and model choice through open standards and protocols.

The essay also links these developments to European digital-sovereignty initiatives, public-sector procurement requirements, and growing concerns about long-term vendor lock-in. De Cooman argues that organisations adopting AI-driven digital platforms will increasingly need to choose between proprietary and open approaches to platform rebundling. He concludes that governance, orchestration, sovereignty, and operational control are becoming the defining competitive factors as software markets adapt to AI-driven change.