Crafting Total Experience with Agentic AI

AI-enabled experience improvements

Customer expectations are evolving faster than ever. Digital transformation, AI breakthroughs, and the demand for trust and personalisation are redefining how brands connect with customers worldwide.

For 16 years, KPMG’s Global Customer Experience Excellence (CEE) Report has revealed what truly matters to customers. The 2025 edition uncovers how leading organisations should embrace Total Experience (TX) as a strategic mindset: Utilising a unified approach that blends customer, employee, and partner journeys into one seamless ecosystem.

This year’s insights spotlight high impact trends: the rise of Agentic AI, the importance of customer interactions being both smooth and holistic, and the critical need for trust, empathy, and ethical governance in a digital-first world.

For Irish businesses, these global findings offer a clear roadmap: align technology with human connection, embed local relevance, and make Customer Experience excellence a habit. Brands that strike the perfect balance between innovation and authenticity will win trust, loyalty, and sustainable growth.

Redefining excellence in the age of Agentic AI

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71% of CEOs globally rate AI as a top investment priority, this compares to 63% of their Irish counterparts illustrating a more conservative investment approach.*

*CEO Outlook KPMG 2025

9 out of 10 Irish CEOs say AI will deliver competitive advantage, mirroring international sentiment.*

“This year's top drivers of Net Promoter Score (NPS) were integrity followed by personalisation.”

1-2% incremental improvement reported in overall Customer Experience across all markets and sectors globally.

0.2% increase in how much empathy drives loyalty globally compared to 2024 responses.

Empathy is expected to become increasingly pivotal due to the rise of Agentic AI.

88% of respondents rate “value for money” as most important offering in retailers.**

The top 3 performing sectors globally were healthcare, non-grocery retail and grocery retail.

*CEO Outlook KPMG 2025
**Next Gen Retail Report, KPMG 2025

Our 2025 Global CEE Report highlights how Agentic AI is transforming insights into action, enabling seamless, human-centred experiences that foster trust, loyalty, and growth for Irish organisations. By embracing a Total Experience approach – connecting customer, employee, and partner journeys – businesses can unlock deeper engagement and deliver value at every touchpoint.

Owen Lewis

Partner, Head of AI & Velocity, Head of Banking & Capital Markets, Global Lead for Financial Services Cost Transformation

KPMG in Ireland

Total Experience

The bar for Customer Experience has been raised; brands must now pursue a strategy which unites customers, employees, data, technology and operations together. AI is a key enabler aiding brands to do this across the five principles of TX:

Customer centricity

Ensuring that customers remain central by dynamically adapting services to individual needs and preferences.
Data driven insights

Using data to inform decisions by processing real-time signals to anticipate needs.
Seamless integration

Bridging siloed systems, connecting cross-functional processes, and ensuring continuity across journeys.
Employee empowerment

Providing frontline teams with timely insights, assistance, and recommended actions.
Technology enablement

Ensuring that there is connection tissue between every touchpoint and process via technology.

Value streams:
The backbone of the TX

Delivering a seamless customer experience goes beyond technology upgrades. It requires structuring the enterprise around value streams - end-to-end flows that connect business units and ecosystems to deliver customer outcomes.

Integration of the entire supply chain from sourcing, inventory management, logistics, and last-mile delivery, ensures agility and resilience. They rise from a CX concept to become the structural foundation for meeting consumer expectations and delivering a gold-standard Total Experience.

"In a Total Experience context, value streams ensure that every interaction, whether with a human, an AI agent, or a partner organisation, contributes to a coherent, frictionless, and personalised experience."

Driving resilience and innovation through supply chain and AI

Our CEO Outlook survey shows that 37% of CEOs identify Supply Chain Resilience as a leading priority for risk mitigation. Robust, cost-efficient, and adaptable supply chains are critical to customer satisfaction and overall business performance.

Harnessing AI can boost supply chain agility, enabling rapid response to market shifts while delivering cost savings and performance gains.

The Six Pillars

In times where technology and customer demands are shifting, informing strategy shifts, it is important to maintain a consistent measure of success by utilising KPMG’s Six Pillars of Customer Excellence which are:

Integrity

Being trustworthy and engendering trust.

Resolution

Turning a poor experience into a great one.

Expectations

Managing, meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

Time and effort

Minimizing customer effort and creating frictionless processes.

Personalization

Using individualized attend to drive an emotional connection.

Empathy

Achieving an understanding of the customer’s circumstances to drive deep rapport.

As Irish shoppers become more price-conscious and digitally engaged, the CEE and Next Gen Retail reports highlight the need for retailers to adapt operating models and supply chains, leverage Agentic AI, and optimise TX, to deliver value and personalisation. These insights are important for Irish Retail leaders seeking to grow customer loyalty and market share.

David O'Kelly

Partner, Head of M&A, Head of Consumer, Retail & Manufacturing

KPMG in Ireland

International case studies

H-E-B
AIR Bank

H-E-B, a US-based grocer ranking number one for Customer Experience, has transformed from a local grocer into a multi-service platform blending food, health, and logistics with community engagement. Its Total Experience model uses AI for predictive stocking, dynamic pricing, and personalised offers, while integrated services create a seamless ecosystem.

For Ireland, where many consumers still shop in-store, this shows digital convenience must complement human interaction. Irish retailers can leverage AI for local demand insights, maintain community ties, and blend tech with face-to-face service to meet evolving expectations.

2 in 3

Irish consumers prefer shopping in physical stores
85%

of Irish consumers continue to buy groceries primarily in-store

Air Bank, a Czech digital-first bank, anchors its parent company’s (PPF Group) strategy to create a seamless ecosystem across finance, telecoms, media and retail. Through one interface, customers access banking, investments, mobile services and cross-brand rewards, making Air Bank more than a bank; it is a hub for digital life.

In an Irish context, this model shows how financial institutions can partner across sectors and use AI-driven personalisation to deliver integrated experiences that combine digital ease with human connection. By aligning services around customer journeys rather than silos, Irish brands can build loyalty, trust and innovation.

#1

AIR Bank Topped the CEE rankings in the Czech republic this year
57%

of Irish consumers say loyalty rewards are instrumental in their purchasing decisions.

Key takeaways

Total Experience is an organisational mindset that puts the customer at the centre of every decision. Leading organisations structure themselves around value streams, which cut across silos to deliver seamless, end-to-end experiences. This approach unifies people, processes, and technology, ensuring every interaction is coherent and efficient.

The rise of Agentic AI is has facilitated the rise of TX by allowing brands consider their entire network of touchpoints holistically rather than individually. Using this to build around value streams make it possible to personalise, anticipate needs, and resolve issues quickly.

Success is measured by consistent performance across the KPMG Six Pillars of Customer Experience: Personalisation, Integrity, Expectations, Time and Effort, Resolution, and Empathy. Together, these pillars underpin trust, loyalty, and sustainable growth.

How can KPMG help?

KPMG helps organisations build customer-centric strategies that foster loyalty, drive growth, and create sustainable competitive advantage. Rooted in Total Experience, our approach blends human insight, digital innovation, and Agentic AI to deliver measurable outcomes. Our areas of expertise cover among others:

Customer-centric, AI-enabled strategy design informed by maturity assessments and market intelligence
End-to-end experience optimisation across traditional, digital, and AI-enabled channels
Accelerated engagement through readiness programmes, behaviour change, training, and communication

To transform operations and deliver value in a rapidly changing landscape we will help you:

Integrate technology, data, and human expertise for agile, resilient operations
Apply Lean Six Sigma and sector knowledge to identify barriers and drive sustainable improvement
Adopt agentic AI and value stream thinking to align processes with customer outcomes and growth

To make your supply chain a strategic asset for seamless Total Experience we will help you:

Design and optimise intelligent, resilient, and sustainable supply chains
Enable digital transformation and data-led decision-making with KPMG’s Alliance Partners and Technologies
Harness agentic AI for predictive insights, resilience, and value across procurement and logistics

To integrate ESG strategy with operational excellence for long-term impact we will help you:

Navigate climate transition, regulatory frameworks, and stakeholder expectations
Embed sustainability into value streams and operations for decarbonisation and risk management
Align ESG with Total Experience principles to build trust and deliver measurable impact