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Executive summary
AI-Enabled Commercial Excellence
Where AI can create commercial value in industrial B2B, and where analytics, process or governance are the better answer.
The demonstrators behind this summary are built with synthetic data. They test the decision logic, operating model and value hypothesis; they are not production results. External figures are published research, cited with their source.
1 / 3
Four families of commercial problems. Only some of them need AI.
Growth
Key accounts erode slowly; innovation projects convert late
Share-of-wallet erosion, cross-sell, account priorities, sample-to-sales
- Analytics
- ML / optimization
- Process & governance
Margin
Price increases and cost pass-through are only partly realized
Price realization, discount leakage, rebates, raw-material pass-through
- Analytics
- ML / optimization
- GenAI / RAG
Sales execution
Reviews explain the gap; few end with an owned action
Performance reviews, forecasting, resource allocation, opportunity management
- Process & governance
- Analytics
- ML / optimization
Productivity & knowledge
RFQs, specs and orders arrive as documents, re-keyed by hand
RFQs and tenders, quote-to-order, technical search, admin load
- GenAI / RAG
- Workflow
- Analytics
Before any model: one customer hierarchy, invoice-level net prices, a named owner per action, incentives that reward margin.
84%of sales leaders say analytics influenced performance less than expected
2 / 3
Five opportunities stand out, but AI plays a different role in each
Prioritize business value first; use AI only where it materially improves the decision or workflow.
| Opportunity | Business value | Role of AI | How | Evidence |
|---|
| Margin Bridge & Price Realization | Protect margin: price realization, pass-through, leakage | AI-ENHANCED | Price corridors · contract extraction | ESTABLISHED |
| Quote-to-Order & Technical RFQ | Reduce response time and expert workload | AI-CORE | Document understanding · RAG · drafting | EMERGING |
| Key Account Share-of-Wallet Erosion | Retain and grow strategic accounts | AI-ENHANCED | Erosion signals · prioritization | LIMITED |
| Commercial Performance Cockpit | Move faster from performance gap to owned action | ANALYTICS-LED | Explanation · action prioritization | ESTABLISHED* |
| Sample-to-Commercial Conversion | Convert more innovation with scarce technical capacity | AI-ENHANCED | Project scoring · brief structuring | LIMITED |
The strongest business case is not necessarily the one with the most AI.
3 / 3
Start with price realization: direct P&L impact, testable in a 90-day pilot
Build now · Margin
Margin Bridge & Price Realization Engine
- Starts from the gap to budget: price, volume, mix
- Runs on invoice data, the most reliable in the firm
- AI suggests price corridors and reads contracts; people decide
- Peer-reviewed B2B field experiment: +11% profit on treated quotes
Source: Marketing Science, 2024
Opens with the performance cockpit
Build next · Productivity / Growth
Quote-to-Order & Technical RFQ Copilot
The clearest GenAI case, measured in lead time and expert hours
Key Account Share-of-Wallet Erosion
Growth, and the change management that comes with KAMs
Sector-specific · Innovation
Sample-to-Commercial Conversion
For ingredients, F&F and specialty chemicals
Evidence still emerging
Same decision loop for every demonstrator
- Signal
- →
- Diagnosis
- →
- Recommendation
- →
- Human decision
- →
- Action
- →
- Value tracking
Each demonstrator is judged on one test: can a commercial decision be traced from signal to measured value?
Download the three slides (PDF, 75 KB)