Artificial intelligence is increasingly acting as an intermediary between businesses and their customers, changing how buyers research, evaluate, and select suppliers. A report published in The Economic Times on September 25, 2026, drawing on Harvard Business Review research, states that competitive advantage is shifting from direct customer understanding to managing AI-shaped interactions.
The report notes that for decades firms built advantage by observing customers through surveys, user groups, complaints, and usage data. It states that neither side of the customer relationship is purely human any longer, as both business-to-consumer and business-to-business buyers now research purchases using prompts and agents.
Three Business Case Studies
The research examined how three small-to-medium sized businesses adapted to AI-mediated customer relationships. A manufacturer improved sales efficiency by screening AI-generated inquiries before investing engineering time in quotations.
A boutique hotel learned to monitor how AI tools described its business and revised public content to improve accuracy and differentiation. A B2B software company replaced periodic customer reviews with continuous monitoring of customer feedback and AI-generated market perceptions.
The report states that across all three cases, the lesson is that firms must treat AI as a new intermediary in the customer relationship.
Shift in Competitive Strategy
The report states that winning companies will not necessarily be those that spend the most on technology. It states they will build systems for continuously listening, interpreting signals, and adapting strategy in markets where both customers and the information they rely on are increasingly AI-mediated.
The report was published under the Strategy, Growth and Markets section of The Economic Times, sourced from Harvard Business Review.
