Creating Total Value: Connecting experience and performance to drive growth in B2B

Business-to-business (B2B) customer experience (CX) in Aotearoa New Zealand has reached a critical moment. The implications of digitisation, AI and rising customer expectations on B2B relationships are particularly acute in a small, interconnected market like ours. New Zealand organisations operate within tightly knit ecosystems and serve customers who expect the same ease, transparency and trust they experience as an individual consumer.

Creating Total Value: Connecting experience and performance to drive growth in B2B reflects the consistent challenges we see across local B2B organisations. These are fragmented ownership of customer experience, disconnected data, and customer experience initiatives that struggle to translate into measurable business outcomes.

The findings of this report reinforce a shift already underway in New Zealand. Leading organisations are moving beyond isolated CX improvements towards an enterprise‑wide approach that connects customer experience, business performance and outcomes. For B2B leaders, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity to reposition customer experience as a genuine driver of trust, value and long‑term growth in the New Zealand market.

Creating Total Value in B2B

Explore how leading B2B organisations are connecting experience, performance and outcomes to drive measurable growth.

Download the report

Findings from our research reveal

CX leaders are clear on the stakes, but execution is uneven

B2B CX leaders believe organisations that embrace AI will gain a competitive edge.

Agentic AI is moving from concept to reality

58% report significant or extensive use of autonomous systems and another 61% are actively implementing agentic AI.

Data fragmentation remains the biggest barrier to CX excellence

66% say data access, quality and management are the most significant challenges to delivering a seamless experience.

Experience is shifting from touchpoints to outcomes

B2B CX leaders are increasingly measuring success through customer lifetime value, retention, adoption and profitability — not satisfaction alone.

Complex buying dynamics demand orchestration, not silos

B2B purchases now involve several stakeholders, increasing the need for coordinated end-to-end engagement.

In the very near future, value will no longer be derived from experiences delivered by a single function — or even a single company – but from highly proactive, personalised experiences delivered by an ecosystem focused on shared customer outcomes.

Walt Becker

Global Customer CoE Lead

KPMG International

Strategic recommendations for B2B CX leaders

Research shows that leading B2B CX leaders aren’t making incremental tweaks to their business. They are fundamentally reframing CX as a growth discipline, guided by a set of six clear strategic priorities.

Build AI-augmented capabilities

Move beyond automation toward AI that actively supports hybrid customer journeys.
Unify experience around value streams and journeys

Integrated value streams to enable coordinated action across marketing, sales, service and success.
Evolve the CX measurement model

Leaders are expanding measurements to include trust, value realisation and journey performance.
Create a culture of orchestration, not ownership

CX leaders are championing shared goals, cross-functional collaboration and intelligent routing to bring the right intervention at the right moment.
Prioritise digital empathy and emotional design

Emotional awareness, clarity and transparency are being embedded into digital experiences to reinforce trust in moments that matter.
Champion customer outcomes, not just experiences

Success is increasingly defined by growth, retention and transformation — not satisfaction alone.

Explore our latest thinking

A benchmark study now in its 16th year, CEE captures perspectives from over 80,000 consumers across 16 markets worldwide.

As “agentic AI” transforms business processes and functions, we believe that the outperformers will balance their adoption of evolving technologies with a relentless focus on humans — especially customers.

Listen to expert opinions and market examples of how today’s businesses are becoming more and more customer-centric.

Is Corporate Services your untapped superpower?

Shaping the workforce of the future with AI

A blueprint for creating value through AI-driven transformation

Transformation is an ongoing journey

Accelerate growth and build lasting resilience with KPMG Velocity. Expect to change smarter and move faster — eliminating inefficiencies and building trust and confidence, at every step.