Customer First

This episode explores how B2B organizations are moving beyond transactional customer experience to organizing around Total Experience and Total Value. The conversation examines how agentic AI enables organizations to shift from task automation to outcome delegation—connecting sales, marketing, service, and operations into coordinated value streams across the customer lifecycle. Key themes include breaking down functional silos, reducing tool sprawl, and using shared metrics—such as customer lifetime value and outcome realization—to redesign operating models around journeys rather than functions. The discussion also highlights how human roles are evolving alongside AI, emphasizing trust, empathy, and strategic partnership, and offers practical steps for leaders to begin building a culture of orchestration that delivers measurable outcomes for both customers and the business.

Our speakers this week:

This episode explores how B2B organizations are shifting from transactional customer experience to delivering measurable outcomes. The discussion examines how agentic AI is helping connect sales, service, and operations into integrated value streams that can deliver “total value” across the customer lifecycle. Key themes include reducing tool sprawl, breaking down data and process silos, and redesigning operating models around outcomes rather than functions. The conversation also highlights how human roles are evolving alongside AI—emphasizing trust, empathy, and partnership—and offers practical steps for leaders to begin their transformation journey from experience to outcome.

Our speakers this week:

This episode explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping customer experience across marketing, sales, and service. The discussion dives into the shift from efficiency gains to creating connected ecosystems that deliver a “total experience” for customers, employees, and partners. Key themes include the critical role of high-quality data, evolving operating models, and embedding AI into every layer of the business. The conversation also highlights why trust, integrity, and employee experience are essential pillars for success in an AI-driven world, and how governance frameworks must adapt to balance human and AI decision-making. Finally, the episode looks ahead to the biggest trends, shaping customer experience over the next five years and offers practical steps for organizations to start their transformation journey.

Our speakers this week:

Walt Becker, Global Customer Advisory CoE Lead, KPMG International

As companies get to grips with inflation, cost of living crises, supply chain issues, and geopolitical conflicts, meeting customers' expectations has never been so challenging. Today, we're having a roundtable with two of KPMG's global sector leads to talk about trends that we're seeing in the marketplace around customers and consumers, and how companies are interacting and engaging with their customers, and how they're trying to stay ahead of disruption.

Our speakers this week:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Customer and Operations Service Line Lead, KPMG International

From emerging technologies like the metaverse, to speech-processing and improved location-based services, organizations are trying to balance the quest for insight versus the protection of customer data. Today, our panel discuss what good customer privacy looks like, and how it is shaping customer interactions. 

Our speakers this week:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Customer and Operations Service Line Lead, KPMG International

Paul Henninger, Global Head of Lighthouse and Partner, KPMG in the United Kingdom. 

How can companies manage rising inflation and the impact on customers? In this episode, our panel talk about the importance of brand, loyalty, and tactics that companies can take to manage higher inflationary pressure.

Our speakers in this episode:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Customer and Operations Service Line Lead, KPMG International

In this episode, our panel explore constantly rising customer expectations that are challenging companies to innovate fast to keep up, and discuss how organizations can maintain the momentum of transformation accelerated by COVID to ensure their positive results continue. Innovation is not just limited to technology but rather enabled by it.

Our speakers this week:

• Isabel Zisselsberger, Partner, Head of Financial Services Strategy and Operations, KPMG China

In this episode, our panel explore personalization and how companies should look to cultivate proactive, one-to-one connections with their customers that deliver on their expectations, without threatening their trust in the brand. They also discuss how, going forward, businesses must be sensitive and systematic in how they utilize data, always demonstrating the clear benefit to the consumer. 

Our speakers this week:

• Amanda Hicks, Partner, Customer Brand and Marketing Advisory, KPMG Australia

Today, during our episode of Customer First, we're going to be talking about orchestrating customer experiences and KPMG's Global Customer Experience Excellence report for 2021. We'll be discussing what are the key trends from year's research and who are the companies leading the way in CX?

Our speakers this episode:

• Julio Hernandez, Global Lead - Customer and Operations, KPMG

Peter Liddell, Global Head of Operations, KPMG