The AI-Driven Customer Journey: What Enterprises Need to Rethink Next

AI has moved from boardroom priority into operational reality, and the customer journey is where that shift is most disruptive. Enterprise buyers are no longer moving through a linear discovery and evaluation process. AI systems are now influencing how organizations research vendors, assess solutions, and make purchasing decisions, before a human sales conversation ever begins. For technology providers, the rules of visibility, trust, and engagement have changed dramatically.

At Dell Technologies World 2026 in Las Vegas, Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman sat down with Gerri Tunnell, Chief Marketing Officer at Dell Technologies, to unpack what AI is doing to the customer journey and what enterprises need to rethink to stay competitive in a world where AI agents are increasingly part of the buying process itself.

The conversation covers how customer expectations and decision-making behaviors are shifting as AI becomes embedded in how buyers research and evaluate technology providers, why discoverability and trust are no longer static brand attributes but dynamic variables that change depending on how AI systems surface and interpret vendor information, and how organizations balance AI-driven efficiency against the human connection that still closes deals and builds long-term relationships. Tunnell also addresses what the biggest forward signal is for enterprises trying to position themselves ahead of the next phase of AI-driven engagement, not just respond to it.

Key Takeaways:

🔹 AI is now part of the buying process, not just the product. Enterprise buyers are using AI to research, evaluate, and shortlist technology providers before any direct vendor engagement. Organizations that are not optimizing for how AI systems surface and interpret their value proposition are losing ground in the discovery phase.

🔹 Speed and discoverability have become competitive variables. As AI compresses the evaluation timeline, the organizations that can be found, understood, and trusted quickly by both human buyers and AI systems are the ones that make the shortlist.

🔹 Trust is harder to build and easier to lose in an AI-mediated buying environment. When AI surfaces vendor information, the accuracy, consistency, and credibility of that information shape first impressions before a human ever weighs in.

🔹 Human connection remains the differentiator at the decision layer. Events like Dell Technologies World are not relics of a pre-digital era. They are proof that AI-driven efficiency and authentic human engagement operate on different registers, and enterprises need both.

🔹 The organizations paying attention to buyer behavior signals now will set the competitive posture for the next phase. Waiting to respond to AI-driven engagement shifts after they have fully materialized is a recovery play, not a growth strategy.

The customer journey Dell is navigating as a provider mirrors what every enterprise faces as a buyer. The organizations that rethink speed, discoverability, and human trust as a unified challenge, rather than separate marketing problems, are the ones positioned to lead in the agentic era.

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