Lünendonk study confirms Reply’s continued leading position in Digital Experience Services

Reply is once again among the leading full-service providers in the latest Lünendonk study, “The Market for Digital Experience Services in Germany”. The market research company analysed the portfolios and market positions of 21 leading IT and management consultancies and digital agencies in Germany. In addition to revenue and market share, Lünendonk also evaluated level of innovation, portfolio depth and provider feedback. The result: Reply is one of the top providers that successfully combines strategy, technology and creativity – driven in particular by its expertise in AI.

Generative AI is shaping developments in the digital experience market more than ever before. According to the Lünendonk study, agent-based and multi-agent AI systems are emerging as key growth drivers. Already, 31 per cent of the companies surveyed use AI agents in marketing, sales or customer service, with a further 35 per cent planning to implement them. 67 per cent expect this to bring advantages in personalised customer communication and automated service processing, while 63 per cent see potential in generating coherent and brand-aligned content along the customer journey.

Thomas Hartmann, member of board of Reply Deutschland SE, commented: “We are currently witnessing a fundamental transformation: AI systems are evolving from reactive assistants to proactive actors. Agent-based AI makes independent decisions, automates service requests, creates content in real time and orchestrates customer journeys. Multi-agent systems solve complex tasks autonomously and enable a situational and emotional approach to customers. AI agents are thus evolving from simple automation tools to strategic enablers in experience management.”

One example of this is the fintech company Riverty: with the support of Reply, it built an AI-powered customer service platform based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 within 100 days. Automated routing, contextual recognition and Microsoft Copilot Studio ensure faster processing, higher customer satisfaction and a scalable architecture.

The study also confirms that marketing, sales and IT are increasingly converging. Technologies such as customer data platforms, hyper-personalisation, composable architectures and AI are leading to an increasing technologisation of strategies. According to the study, generative engine optimisation (GEO) is also emerging as a new area of focus alongside AI agents. While SEO and SEA remain important, generative search experiences are becoming increasingly significant. In future, content must be designed in such a way that it can be recognised and correctly interpreted by AI systems. Reply supports companies in developing data-driven strategies and deploying AI-supported applications to implement these changes effectively and purposefully.

The results show that the maturity of digital experience strategies continues to increase. Artificial intelligence, hyper-personalisation, digital identities and experience platforms are converging into an integrated ecosystem, that enables a new type of employer branding as well as digital and social commerce. Reply is actively shaping this change with a combination of technological excellence, creative drive and a clear focus on seamless digital experiences that place people at the heart of every interaction. 

The Lünendonk study is available here.