McKinsey & Company’s latest B2B survey of 3,000+ decision-makers across 18 countries points to a shift that cloud alliance, marketplace, and GTM leaders should take seriously.

As customers mature with agentic AI, they buy digitally, buy larger, and move faster with less human mediation.

Digital is no longer just a convenience layer. McKinsey calls it a shift toward a “primary growth engine.”

Here is what stood out:

1. AI maturity changes deal size

The most AI-mature buyers are willing to transact more than $1M through fully digital, end-to-end channels. That is roughly 2X the level of peers still in early pilots.

Each step up in AI maturity is linked to a 20–45% increase in the value customers are willing to buy digitally. This is not a one-off jump. It is a compounding shift in behavior.

2. Buying behavior is changing, not just channel preference

Agentic AI is reducing reliance on human-mediated interactions and increasing comfort with automated, end-to-end digital journeys.

AI is not only changing what companies buy. It is changing how they buy.

3. Human support still matters

About one-third of B2B customers expect digital-first interactions over the next 12 months. But nearly 60% still prefer hybrid models that combine digital and remote human interaction.

The winners will not be self-serve only. They will make digital easy, then bring in the right human support at the right moment.

4. Demand is moving faster than execution

Roughly 80% of large and mid-size enterprises already have agentic AI in some form. Fully implemented deployments are expected to grow 2.3–2.4X in the next 12–18 months.

But only 3–11% have reached full scale in any individual use case. That gap creates room for partners, SIs, and AI-native vendors that can help customers move from pilots to repeatable deployment.

5. Buyers want to buy AI, not build it

Across use cases, roughly 80% of B2B customers prefer off-the-shelf solutions, managed services, or third-party custom builds over building internally.

And no provider type has clearly won yet. That makes this market more open than many people think.

A few lessons for alliance and GTM leaders:

1. Treat digital buying as a core GTM capability, not a secondary channel

2. Design hybrid journeys where sales, partners, and digital channels work together

3. Lead with trust, packaging, and frictionless execution — security is now the #1 reason enterprises switch providers

Cloud marketplaces sit inside this shift, but the lesson is broader: AI is training enterprise buyers to spend more through digital channels. The companies that make buying easier now will have the edge later.

What’s changing in how buyers purchase your solutions?

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