Fireside Chat: Designing Digital Journeys That Strengthen B2B Relationships

In the second session of the Copperberg Select Virtual Academy, Managing Director Lisa Hellqvist returned to the conversation, this time with Affan Mahmood, Global Head of Channel Strategic Projects, Power Products, at Schneider Electric, to tackle how thoughtful design, personalisation, and intelligent use of AI can create experiences that build trust and strengthen relationships over time. 

Copperberg Select brings together experts to explore the challenges driving change in our community. This session discusses practical strategies for shaping B2B journeys that connect people, process, and technology in ways that matter to buyers today.

The Shift Toward Relationship-Driven B2B Journeys

B2B commerce is moving away from one-off transactions toward deeper, project-focused relationships. Meanwhile, buyers are looking for solutions that fit their workflows, timelines, and budgets. 

Mahmood highlighted how professionals often buy in the context of projects, not individual items: “We buy 20 products for a project. We cannot spend 20 minutes on 20 different product pages and individually adding them to cart. That’s a waste of our time.”

This shift means companies need to understand the multi-layered nature of B2B purchases. Multiple stakeholders, credit terms, and ongoing relationships all shape decisions. 

Logged-in, personalised experiences, bulk ordering, and smart AI tools now serve as relationship enablers, helping buyers complete projects efficiently while maintaining a sense of trust and partnership with the supplier.

Key Drivers of Modern B2B Experiences

Mahmood mentioned that effective B2B experiences are built around saving buyers’ time and understanding their needs. 

The modern B2B experience is a buyer-focused approach that combines digital tools, personalised interactions, and streamlined workflows to make complex purchases faster, easier, and more predictable. It emphasises understanding the buyer’s context, anticipating needs, and providing relevant options. 

Main drivers include:

• B2B personalisation: Logged-in experiences allow companies to tailor recommendations, content, and reordering options to each buyer. High-quality e-commerce content, such as detailed product descriptions, how-to guides, and instructional videos, can complement personalisation by helping buyers quickly understand products and make informed decisions.
• Project-based buying: Many B2B purchases involve multiple items for a single project. Tools like bulk orders and pre-populated carts reduce friction and speed up workflows. 
• Digital transformation: Connected platforms, AI, and analytics help anticipate buyer needs, suggest product bundles, and streamline interactions across channels. These tools also allow companies to analyse buyer behaviour to better predict future purchases and preferences.

In Mahmood’s words, “Developing a feature once doesn’t mean it will stay relevant in the next year. You constantly need to evolve your game.”

AI as an Enabler, Not a Replacement

In modern B2B commerce, AI works best as a “co-pilot,” enhancing human decision-making rather than replacing it.

Mahmood highlighted that AI can save time, provide insights, and streamline complex workflows: “As long as AI is factoring in all different elements, and it is acting on your behalf as the decision maker for the decisions that are reversible, then in my opinion, it’s okay.”

However, he also added that high-impact decisions should remain human-validated: “If decisions are not reversible or they have a huge impact financially on your company, then that’s where it’s good to use it instead as a recommendation engine.”

One emerging form, agentic AI, takes this a step further. It can autonomously execute tasks like building a shopping cart from a photo of a handwritten bill of materials, suggesting project-specific purchases, or checking discount eligibility, all while still requiring human oversight for validation. 

By acting on rules for stock availability and project pipelines, agentic AI enables buyers to save time and focus on strategic decisions, transforming how B2B buyers interact with digital platforms without removing the human element from the loop.

Designing for Long-Term Engagement

Mahmood stressed that long-term engagement requires designing digital experiences that grow with them. When platforms evolve alongside buyers, they foster trust, encourage repeat business, and streamline complex purchasing cycles.

Here are the steps for designing engagement, as discussed:

1. Map the buyer journey: Identify recurring workflows, project-based purchases, and pain points to ensure digital experiences address real business needs.
2. Leverage personalisation: Use data to tailor product recommendations, reordering options, and content for B2B buyers. Personalised dashboards and alerts can help sales teams anticipate needs and reduce friction.
3. Enable self-service: Tools like bulk ordering, pre-populated carts, and automated approvals save buyers’ time and improve workflow efficiency.
4. Incorporate continuous feedback loops: Collecting input from users enables platforms to evolve in line with buyer expectations and helps businesses identify opportunities to automate repetitive tasks or add value.

These steps help companies turn transactional interactions into strategic, long-term relationships. 

Guardrails, Trust, and Transparency 

Introducing AI into B2B experiences can boost efficiency, but it also raises questions about reliability, control, and trust. Mahmood highlighted that for buyers and internal teams to embrace AI, digital experiences must be transparent, secure, and guided by clear rules: 

• Guardrails: Define boundaries for AI actions. This includes setting rules for reversible vs. irreversible decisions, monitoring credit limits, and workflow constraints. AI should recommend or act only within these boundaries, leaving high-impact decisions to humans.
• Trust: Buyers and teams need assurance that AI recommendations are accurate and aligned with business rules. Trust is built when AI actions are predictable, explainable, and consistently useful.
• Transparency: Users must understand what AI is doing, why it’s doing a particular action, and what data it’s using. Clear communication of AI logic and decision criteria reduces discomfort and uncertainty.

With the right measures in place, AI can help B2B platforms work more seamlessly, reduce errors, and foster buyer confidence. 

The Road Ahead for the B2B Experience

Looking forward, the future of B2B experiences hinges on intelligent collaboration between humans and AI. 

Mahmood sees AI as a co-pilot that can handle complex data, optimise decisions, and uncover opportunities while leaving ultimate judgment to humans.

“It’s really a savvy tool for a multitude of data. Let’s not forget that. We can never analyse data with that accuracy at that speed. And maybe that is the thing we have to understand first… how much more efficient can we be just by having that data fed to us?” he concludes. 

B2B platforms that pair human judgment with AI insights deliver quicker, smarter, and more tailored experiences. The future empowers businesses to make informed decisions, foster stronger relationships, and adapt to evolving buyer needs.