Global Survey: B2B is the New B2C
The Consumerization of Enterprise Sales
November 2013

Work Redesigned:
Seizing New Opportunities in a
Changing Workplace
FLEXIBLE
PROCESSESCOLLABORATIVE
AND MOBILEENGAGING
EXPERIENCES
CUSTOMER
CENTRIC

1Research & Insights

The study of 1,000 C-level executives,
business unit leaders and IT decisionmakers shows that widespread
availability of mobile and social
technologies is complicating
relationships between businesses andtheir customers. As buyers are growing
more demanding, sellers must be more
flexible. Notably, Avanade found thatbusinesses embracing this complexity
report longer-term and more lucrative
relationships with customers.

2Click to tweet(business-to-business) buyers and sellers is expanding far beyond
the reach of a company’s salesforce. Similar to how consumers
purchase a car today, 61 percent of B2B buyers report third-party
sites and feedback from business partners, industry peers orsocial channels as more important than conversations with acompany’s sales teams when making a purchasing decision
for their company. B2B is next in line in the consumerization
movement.

• Technology is seen as the cause and the cure. AClick to tweet

Not yet – even though the same
resources are available to every
consumer browsing Amazon.com.
Avanade’s latest global research
results show the “consumerization”
movement is changing how
businesses buy and sell goods.
Enterprise buyers are beginning tomimic consumer shopping behaviors
and the value of the customer
experience is now more important
than cost in the buying process.

TWEET THIS!

• Enterprise buyers are mimicking consumer
shopping behaviors. The relationship between B2B

sizable portion of companies are responding to technology-drivenchanges in their sales process by modifying organizational roles
and making technology investments. Nearly half (45 percent)of respondents say that IT plays a greater role in the overallcustomer experience than it has in the past. Further, 40 percent
say IT contributes significantly to the strategic direction of acompany.

• Companies can monetize customer experiences.
Click to tweet

Imagine a company is embarking on
a significant upgrade of its assemblyline equipment. Can it shop for theequipment in an online marketplaceof third-party sellers ranked by quality
and price? Can it buy new options
directly from a company’s sales staff
or turn to real-time auctions forrefurbished ones? Is there a networkof peer customers available to review
and help configure parts – and increase
cross-selling in the process? Are there
video reviews of the equipment, links
to expert advice on social media,
and one-click access to a host of
installation and maintenance services?

The value of the customer experience surpasses cost as the top
factor in a B2B purchasing decision. Customers report they arewilling to pay up to 30 percent more for a superior experience. In
fact, more than half (56 percent) of those surveyed report paying
more for a product in the last six months because the customer
experience was better than other less expensive options.

• Those businesses that embrace these changes areoutperforming peers. Sixty percent of companies that have
Click to tweet

Executive Summary

Key findings ofAvanade’s large-scale
research indicate thefollowing trends:

built new business processes and technologies to accommodate
shifts in customer interactions report increased revenue – while
60 percent also report a larger customer base and 61 percent
report a growth in customer loyalty.
Additional data, analysis and commentary from peers in theindustry are included in the following pages.

The consumerization
More than 50% of
movement comes tobuyers consult thirdbusiness buyers
party sources before
The B2B buying process is not only
more complicated – it’sconsulting a company’s growing
following patterns first seen insalesforce. These
consumer shopping. Social networks
and mobile technologies are invading
sources include thirdthe workplace and contributingto a decentralized sales process.
party sites, feedback
Information about a company andfrom a businessits products or services is available
partner, social channels everywhere – whether the productis manufacturing equipment sold toand conversations with businesses or a refrigerator sold topeers who already have consumers. B2B buyers are shoppingat work like they do at home. Theyexperience with theare proactively informing themselves
about enterprise products and services
product or service.
in wide-ranging marketplaces of peer
customers, industry experts and, ofcourse, salespeople.

More than half (61 percent) of buyers
consult third-party sources before
consulting a company’s salesforce.
These sources include third-party sites,
feedback from a business partner,social channels and conversations withpeers who already have experience
with the product or service. Thesesources beyond the reach of acompany’s salesforce are a factor for
89 percent of buyers when making B2B
buying decisions.
Not only are B2B customers seeking
information about products from awider variety of sources, they are also
communicating about their businesspurchase decisions publicly. A bad
customer experience has long-term
and far reaching implications. Afterpurchasing a product or service for
their company, 42 percent of buyers
reviewed a company on a third-party

website. Roughly one-third (32 percent)posted a review on social media
channels such as Facebook or LinkedIn
and nearly one in five (19 percent)posted comments about the companyon Twitter.
This creates an ongoing cycle forpurchasing decisions. The information
posted publicly by one B2B buyer will
likely be used by a peer in anotherdecision. So goes the cycle. In October2013, Forrester’s David M. Coopersteinsummarizes this trend in theCompetitive Strategy in the Age of theCustomer report: “With online reviews
and mobile web access, your customers
know more about your products, yourservice, your competitors and pricing
than you do.”Will technology replacesalespeople?

Companies recognize the dramaticchanges in the way they interact
with customers. What’s surprising
is the breadth and depth of changes
they’re making to redesign technology
priorities, business processes andorganizational roles as a result of theevolving marketplace.
A wider variety of people in companies
are responsible for managing
relationships with customers today. The
new path a customer follows in seeking
products and ongoing support fromcompanies, or the “customer journey,”requires non-sales departments,
especially IT, to play expanded roles. 83%of businesses say departments such as
IT, marketing and manufacturing now
play larger roles in directly managing
customer experiences than they did
three years ago.

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Research & Insights

The IT department is at the epicenterof this changing relationship between
buyers and sellers. Nearly half (45percent) of respondents says that
IT plays a greater role in the overallcustomer experience than it has in
the past. Further, 40 percent say the IT
department contributes significantly
to the strategic direction of a company
today. According to Accenture’s High
Performers in IT: Defined by Digital
report, high performers allocate 55
percent of their IT budget to deliver
strategic business capabilities
compared to 37 percent allocationsin other organizations. That’s a far cry
from a department built to support
desktops and answer helpdesk calls.
Processes and technology investmentsare also changing alongside people’sroles. More than 80 percent ofcompanies have changed at least
one business process in the past
three years to better interact withcustomers. Top business processchanges include:• Increased investment in customer
sales and support technology (44percent)• Increased the number of employeesinteracting with customers (40percent)• Increased automation in the sales
process (32 percent)
Additionally, more than half ofcompanies who report making newinvestments in customer sales andsupport technologies are investingin mobile devices (55 percent), socialmedia (54 percent) and mobile
applications (53 percent). Businesses
report that they are also looking totheir employees to use their own
personal devices, such as mobile
4phones, to engage with potential
customers. In fact, nearly half (45percent) of companies surveyed
expect their employees to use theirpersonal devices to interact withcustomers during the sales process.
In Accenture’s recent report they also
concluded that high performers let
their employees use their own mobile
phones and tablets, access their own
mobile apps, and self-manage almost
70 percent of their interactions atwork, compared to just over one-thirdfor other organizations.
Most striking, Avanade’s research
revealed that seven out of 10
executives believe that technology
will mostly replace human interaction
with customers in the next decade.
These findings are also consistent
with Avanade’s “Work Redesigned”
study conducted in January 2013,
which showed that the majority ofbusinesses (71 percent) have changed
at least one business process tobetter accommodate emerging work
trends like the use of mobile andconsumer technologies.

Seven out of 10executives believethat technology will
mostly replace humaninteraction withcustomers in thenext decade.

Click to tweet

Click to tweet

Enterprise buyers are
mimicking consumer
shopping behaviors.

Click to tweet

Companies canmonetize customer
experiences.

Technology isseen as the cause
and the cure.

Click to tweet

Those businesses
that embracethese changes areoutperforming peers.

5Research & Insights

Avanade’s researchshows that cost is not
the top factor. Buyers
reported prioritizing
the customer
experience over the
price of a product orservice when weighing
a purchase decision.

Businesses learn tomonetize experiences

Sure, product cost is a major factor
when making a purchasing decision,
but Avanade’s research shows thatit’s not the top factor. Buyers reported
prioritizing the customer experience
over the price of a product or service
when weighing a purchase decision.
We already know the importance ofexperiences to consumers. According
to the American Express 2012 Global
Customer Service Barometer, twothirds of consumers state that they
are willing to spend more with acompany they believe provides
excellent customer service. Likewise,
they react more vocally if they havebad experiences. Consumers aretwice more likely to share a badcustomer service experience thanthey are to share a good one. As B2B
buyers increasingly mimic consumer
actions, enterprises can expect similar
behaviors from enterprise purchasedecision makers.
In fact, our research reveals thatpurchasing decision makers, similar
to consumers, are paying more for
products and services in the name of abetter customer experience. In the last
six months, 56 percent of purchasing
decision makers within companies
report paying more for a productor service because the customer
experience was better than other, lessexpensive options.

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Avanade’s global study also quantifies
how much more they’re willing to pay.
Decision-makers buying products andservices for their business are paying
on average 30 percent more for an
improved customer experience.
Walt Disney understood this principle
perfectly, saying, “Do what you do sowell that they will want to see it again
and bring their friends.” It’s no wonderfamilies from around the world will pay$100 or more per person to experiencea day in Disneyland when plenty ofcheaper carnivals and fairs exist.
Companies that are making smartchanges and embracing new sales
processes to improve their customer’s
experience see similar positive results.
Those companies that have built new
business processes and technologies
to accommodate shifts in customer
interactions are experiencing:• Increased customer loyalty(61 percent)• Increased revenue (60 percent)• Increased customer base
(60 percent)While not every business has
embraced these changes, morecompanies are headed in thisdirection. The research shows morecompanies (83 percent) plan to invest
in technology aimed to improve theircustomer experience in the nextyear. These new findings reinforce
Avanade’s past Work Redesigned
research, which found companies thatare embracing this new style of work
are also seeing positive impacts onsales, profits, product development
and employee satisfaction.

Views from an IT advisor

The value of a customer relationshipis no longer defined by a series oftransactions, but rather the complete
experience a seller offers a buyer at thetime of purchase and throughout theirtime with the product or service. New
technologies, business processes andinformation sources can lead to deeper
as well as more profitable relationships
for businesses, and more rewarding
experiences for customers.
However, not all businesses arecatching on. Our research shows thatsome businesses are still ill-equipped
to handle this new customer journey
and are struggling to manage various
information sources that customers
now rely on to inform their buying
decisions. Those businesses thathave not implemented new businessprocesses or made investments to
support sales don’t plan to make anychanges in the near future. These
technology skeptics will miss theboat in creating a more customercentric enterprise.
Interestingly, the higher up thecorporate ladder one is the morepositive the perception around thebuying experience a company isproviding its customers. For example,
Avanade’s research revealed that 86
percent of C-level executives believe
their customer experience is better
than that of their competitors.
However, outside of the C-suite, theview isn’t quite as positive. 77% ofbusiness unit leaders and 66 percentof IT decision makers believe theircustomer experience is better thantheir competitors.

Keys to improving your customerexperience:• Assess your current customer buying
experience and identify areas forimprovement.
• Anticipate future customer needs bylooking at both internal and external
data sources to predict behavior
patterns, market trends, customer
demand, etc.
• Create a seamless customer
experience across all channels ofcommunication and customer
touchpoints.
• Leverage new technology trends
such as mobile and social to provide
a truly unique experience forcustomers and enabling self-service
across a number of channels.
• Empower employees with the tools,
processes and information they needto delight customers and solve issues
proactively.

The research showsthat some businesses
are still ill-equipped
to handle this new
customer journey
and are struggling
to manage various
information sourcesthat customers now
rely on to inform theirbuying decisions.

Survey methodology

Avanade’s survey was conducted in
October 2013 by Wakefield Research(www.wakefieldresearch.com)
an independent research firm. It
surveyed 1,000 C-level executives,
business unit leaders and IT decision
makers, at the top companies in thefollowing countries: U.S., Australia,Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark,Finland, France, Germany, Italy,
Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway,Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the U.K. The industries
surveyed include: aerospace, defense,
telecommunication, energy, healthcare,financial services, government, nonprofit, media, entertainment, logistics
and manufacturing.

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We’re in a thought leadership frame of mind!

About Avanade
Avanade provides business technology solutions and managed services that connect
insight, innovation and expertise in Microsoft® technologies to help customers
realize results. Our people have helped thousands of organizations in all industries
improve business agility, employee productivity, and customer loyalty. Avanade
combines the collective business, technical and industry expertise of its worldwide
network of experts with the rigor of an industrialized delivery model to provide highquality solutions using proven and emerging technologies with flexible deployment
models–on premises, cloud-based or outsourced. Avanade, which is majority ownedby Accenture, was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation andhas 20,000 professionals in more than 20 countries. Additional information can befound at www.avanade.com.
Avanade and the Avanade logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Avanade
Inc. Other product, service, or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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