Inside Schneider Electric’s Digital Transformation: AI, Marketplaces, and the Modern Customer

Sawyer: Steven, can you tell us a little bit about your role at Schneider Electric and what digital customer experience means in the context of your job title?

Steven: Sure. I am the head of digital customer experience in Canada, and I'm also part of the global team—though I'm transitioning from that global role. My main focus is linking our customer experience and commercial transformation team, representing North America, Canada, and the United States. In both these roles, I make sure our global strategy and our local country strategies are aligned. We’re always thinking about how to improve customer experience, making sure we’re progressive and matching—or even exceeding—customer expectations.

A big part of my job is understanding our customers’ issues and what kind of solutions we can bring to make their experience more efficient, friendly, and productive. It’s about helping them do what they need to do, and making that process as smooth as possible.

Sawyer: That's incredible. We live in such a diverse world with so many different global markets. I’m sure you have experience across quite a few. It’d be great for the audience to understand which markets you’re working with. I’m guessing, being in Canada, you’re also involved with North America, Asia, Europe, and so on?

Steven: Yeah, I’ve got pretty extensive experience. I’ve been working in digital since 1995 and have worked for several international companies. I joined Schneider in 2013, based out of Canada initially, but later joined the global team and moved to Germany for about two and a half years. My role there was to break open eCommerce in that market, before taking on North American oversight for eCommerce and distribution from a global perspective. I then moved to Nashville for a few years before coming back to Canada. So, I have a good understanding of how markets can differ geographically.

Schneider as a company focuses on four main areas: residential, commercial, industrial, and secure power. We're a $40 billion company based in Paris, France, available in 128 countries, with about 150,000 employees. In residential, you might recognize our Square D breaker brand in your house. In commercial, we electrify buildings—anything from apartment buildings to airports and university campuses. On the industrial side, we electrify the machines inside factories: contactors, push buttons, speed drives, safety switches, things like that. And we’re very big in secure power, especially for data centers, which has become a big focus lately.

Beyond that, we have EcoStruxure, our AI system that helps manage all this data from the devices we electrify. EcoStruxure Building, EcoStruxure Factory, EcoStruxure Machine—different versions that help manage energy more proactively and efficiently. We’ve been recognized as the world’s most sustainable company, and that’s a big part of our strategy—helping companies become more sustainable while also making sure their transactions are more effective and efficient through our partner networks.

Sawyer: Wow, thank you, Steven. That’s a lot of diversity in such a short period of time! I want to dig into your role at Schneider a bit more. How do you approach the challenge of managing customer experience in such a complex ecosystem? With so many services, products, global markets, and different preferences, how do you go about it? It sounds like you have a global team and a lot of insight into different cultures, but maybe you can talk about the differences you’re seeing in customer demand and how you manage that experience.

Steven: Yeah, it really comes down to a few core things. First, leadership. We have a structure where, from the C-level on down, we’ve embraced the idea that the customer is at the center of everything. We work hard to make sure that focus and alignment on customer experience runs from senior leadership all the way through the organization, whether it’s product quality or every interaction our customers have with us.

Second, it’s all about data—making sure we’re getting access to the right data that can guide our decisions. We look at everything from customer satisfaction surveys to monthly active users, and we work closely with our support, sales, and service teams to get feedback and understand what’s really happening on the ground.

And finally, we try to stay at the forefront of customer experience trends. Schneider Electric is one of the largest R&D companies in the world; we invest billions in research and development, which is essential in the global electrical industry. We’re especially focused on where things are headed with AI. We’ve actually been an AI company for ten years now—doing machine learning before generative AI even hit the scene. Now we’re embracing generative AI and exploring the different ways it can improve customer experience.

Sawyer: That makes a lot of sense. Coming off events like Modern Distribution Management and the NAED National Meeting—both huge in your space—AI was such a consistent topic. It almost felt like eCommerce was taking a back seat. The data conversation keeps coming up, too; people realize if you have garbage data, you’ll only get garbage results. From your perspective, having seen how different regions adopt AI, what trends or behaviors have stood out? Are there major differences in how Europe is using AI versus North America, or in customer preferences between those regions?

Steven: There are some clear similarities, but also a lot of differences. No matter where you are—Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America—people want a great experience. That doesn’t change. But how they pay for that experience and what electronic capabilities they have can vary a lot.

We’re seeing the rise of marketplaces, especially in regions where companies don’t always have the resources to build their own eCommerce sites. But the bigger change is how AI is becoming the primary search method. As AI becomes more integrated into customer processes, it’s increasingly how people find and choose products. Some companies are building AI agents that help customers create profiles with all the distributors they work with, track availability, understand their projects, and suggest the right products. This saves a ton of time.

Most of our customers aren’t actually the end customers—they’re contractors, engineering firms, or other businesses that serve end clients. The way they win business isn’t just about price, since most products have similar margins, whether it’s ours or Siemens. It comes down to expertise, price, and especially time. The companies succeeding today are those who use their time more effectively, and distributors who help customers stay organized and save time are the ones building stronger, longer-lasting relationships. It’s less about who has the lowest price and more about who helps you run your business better.

Sawyer: And I think that ties back to customer experience and service, right? If you’re providing a service that helps customers quickly find and receive the products they need, you’ve got an advantage over a distributor who hasn’t invested in those areas—where you still have to pick up the phone or manage everything manually. But can you actually manage things for the customer? That’s where the real differentiation comes in.

Steven: Exactly. For example, maybe I haven’t won an order yet, but I can put it into your system and manage it there, instead of tracking emails or spreadsheets. If my sales team closes the deal, I can easily turn that quote into an order and manage the entire process from your distribution website. That’s powerful. It keeps me organized and saves time.

When I look at platforms—Shopify or whoever—it’s about whether you’re providing that extra layer of service. As a distributor, it’s expected that you’ll have the product, can deliver quickly, and maybe offer some expertise. But if you can also help me manage my project or job, that’s a huge advantage. That’s where I see AI starting to play a bigger role. As companies develop these new capabilities, they’ll improve customer experience by helping people stay more organized, efficient, and ahead of the game. It’s all there for the taking—the difference is who will take advantage of it first.

Sawyer: Without a doubt. There are so many investments now—even on our side at OroCommerce—in embedding AI into customer portals. Customers can search for products or ask questions related to their account and get relevant answers. On the other side, it’s about meeting customers where they are. Coming off the NAED National Meeting, there are still plenty of customers who prefer to submit their own purchase orders, maybe even handwritten on the side of a box or in a PDF. Now we have the tools to meet them there—turning a PDF directly into an order that can be reviewed by customer service or a sales rep.

Ironically, we’re seeing AI adopted in these traditional processes, like the AI Smart Order agent that can convert a PDF into an order. PDFs and Excel orders have been around forever, but only now is AI really transforming how those are processed.

Steven, I want to switch gears for a moment. You were at B2B Online Chicago, which already feels like months ago to me! I’m curious about your perspective—what were some of your main takeaways from that event? What valuable points would you share with an audience like ours about why it’s worth investing in events like that?

Steven: The biggest thing for me was being able to interact with so many different vendors and players in B2B eCommerce. Having those conversations, sitting at lunch tables, having dinners, and just realizing we’re all in this together. No matter how far ahead or behind you think you are, you get a real sense of where you stand, and you see best practices from others.

It was great to hear from different speakers—lots of compelling ideas. The main takeaway was just how fast things are changing. What we talk about at B2B Online in 2025 will be completely different by the time 2028 rolls around. We’re in a major transition right now, and it’s moving fast.

It reminds me of my first internet conference back in 1996. It was just a corner of a conference room, maybe 150 people trying to figure things out. A year or two later, it filled an entire conference center. Last year, I went to a big Data and AI conference in Toronto and saw the same thing—just a small section now, but in two years, it’ll be the main event. So, hearing those speakers, seeing what others are testing, and realizing we’re not that far behind—honestly, it’s still early days. Now’s the time to start figuring out where your business can benefit from all this new technology, because it’s evolving every day.

Sawyer: I think you’re right that it’s never too late to start, but I’m curious, especially after the NAED National Meeting. I met a lot of small and mid-size distributors who haven’t made strong digital investments to meet changing customer demands. What do you think happens to those companies? We’re seeing a wave of mergers and acquisitions—plenty of companies on-site were announcing new deals. If I’m a mid-size distributor who hasn’t invested in digital, what’s the risk to my business, and what would you suggest to change that?

Steven: First, you need to make a real commitment—and that starts at the C-level. There are lots of great firms that can show you where you stand and help you get started, but leadership has to want it. I’ve spoken to many distributor CEOs who find all this overwhelming, and some are just waiting to retire and hand the company to their kids, hoping they’ll figure it out. Others are positioning for a buyout.

I haven’t seen any new brick-and-mortar wholesale distributor start up in the last ten years—just online distributors. If you’re launching a business now, you’re thinking online and mobile first. Once those companies get established, their next step is to expand, maybe even by acquiring brick-and-mortar operations.

But the workforce is changing, too. Millennials are now the main buyers and sellers online. Gen Z is right behind them, and Gen Alpha is coming up. These generations won’t remember life without AI, and their expectations are high. If I’m going to do business with you, I expect you to have the digital tools I use every day. If you don’t, you’ll need to catch up quickly or prepare for acquisition.

Sawyer: Absolutely. I think the stat now is over 70% of purchasing power is in the hands of millennials and Gen Z, which is wild. Baby boomers are nearly out of the mix in terms of buying decisions.

Steven: That’s a huge challenge for our industry—especially with the trades. We need more people entering the trades, and a lot of countries are investing to make that happen. AI isn’t going to replace skilled trades any time soon—we’re not at the robot stage yet. But we’re working closely with universities and colleges to invest in the next generation of tradespeople. At recent NAED meetings, this was a huge topic. The number of people retiring with trade skills far outweighs those coming in.

Still, we need to meet the new buying demands of these younger buyers. They like to do their own research—they don’t want to waste time waiting on the phone. But Gen Z also wants direction and to be taught the right way. They want shortcuts, best practices, and safe, economical solutions. They’ve already found that AI can help with a lot of that. Many of these workers grew up on YouTube, so this shift makes sense.

Sawyer: Last time we talked, you mentioned marketplaces. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the role marketplaces play in all this. With competition between distributors and manufacturers, and both sides shaping the future of the supply chain, how is Schneider investing in marketplace initiatives right now?

Steven: We started about ten years ago with the goal of figuring out how to sell directly to customers. While we’ve always been deeply committed to our distribution channel, we wanted to understand eCommerce firsthand—so we experimented with selling direct in markets where our brand wasn’t the top choice and distributors weren’t giving us much attention. We opened some D2C (direct-to-consumer) shops and quickly realized how hard it is. There was a lot of channel conflict and it just didn’t fit our strategy.

So, we pivoted. Instead of going direct, we doubled down on supporting our distribution partners and started developing marketplace strategies. We know a lot of customers come directly to schneider.com, and we didn’t want them to leave empty-handed or head back to Google. That’s why we developed marketplaces in certain regions that allow our distributors to participate and close the loop with those customers.

It’s still early days, but we’ve seen success piloting this approach in India, Indonesia, and Thailand. Now we’re bringing marketplaces to North America and Europe. The idea is to manage the customer experience—help customers find what they need—while keeping our distributors front and center as the sellers. We want to make sure our distributors are successful by giving them the tools and the platform, but also ensure customers have a great experience.

Sawyer: That’s a great example of tailoring the customer experience to different regions and business realities. Sometimes it’s not even a preference, but just the way business is done in a certain place. I like that you’re leveraging the strength of the Schneider name to benefit both your bottom line and your distributors’, while still putting the customer at the center—making it easy to find products and pricing.

Steven: Exactly. In some regions, our distributors don’t even have their own websites, so our marketplace helps them stay relevant and accessible where customers want to shop.

Sawyer: That’s a smart move. We recognized the same thing when we launched marketplace capabilities in 2022. There’s always the standard cart functionality, but building a true third-party marketplace—with vendor management capabilities—can really drive sales and support partners.

Sawyer: Before we wrap up, I want to circle back to AI, since that’s such a huge topic for our audience. A lot of manufacturers and distributors are still asking, “Where do I start?” What can a $40 billion global business like Schneider teach others about using AI for internal efficiency and customer satisfaction? We touched on AI-powered search earlier, but from your perspective, what other AI tools or approaches have made a difference? Feel free to name specific tools if you’re comfortable.

Steven: We actually have a global mandate that all Schneider Electric employees need some level of AI competency. We’ve launched an internal program for that. For a company of our size, I’m always impressed by how quickly we move on these things. We’re a Microsoft company, so internally, we’re using Copilot and building out custom co-pilots as well.

The first step is just learning how to work with an AI chat model—whether it’s Copilot, ChatGPT, or Google’s version. Learn the basics of prompting and understand both what AI can do and its limitations. It’s not perfect. You need to double-check its output, and we don’t allow highly confidential information in AI tools. But once you understand prompting, you can start using AI for things like customer research—preparing for meetings, finding out what customers buy, and understanding their business.

That’s how you build up to agentic AI—where you create agents to handle specific tasks or projects. We’ve experimented with this outside Schneider using OpenAI, and we’re starting to bring some of those capabilities into our internal Salesforce environment. The key is to keep exploring and testing. For example, Perplexity is doing interesting things for eCommerce, and major platforms like Shopify and Oro are embracing AI, too. The world isn’t standing still, so if you are, that’s your sign to start moving.

Sawyer: Sticking with AI for a minute—are there specific features or tools you’re providing customers for added value? It seems like a lot of the adoption so far is internal, helping employees get ahead.

Steven: Right now, most of the direct customer-facing AI starts with chatbots, especially on the support side. You want customers to be able to come in, chat with an AI that’s been trained on your products, and find the information they need quickly. That’s usually the entry point.

But as we discussed earlier, the biggest challenge is still data quality—garbage in, garbage out. Our job is to make sure the right data is available and structured in a way that AI models can use. That means creating content that’s consumable by AI: bullet points, concise summaries, but also deeper background for those who want to dig in.

We’re seeing SEO evolve, too—it’s becoming more thematic, more about being a true thought leader so that your content is picked up by AI libraries and search. It’s a complex space, and we’re figuring it out piece by piece.

Sawyer: That’s great to hear. I love seeing this level of investment and commitment. Last question for you, Steven—Schneider Electric aims to be the world’s most sustainable company. How does your digital strategy support that vision, especially in terms of customer interaction and product choice?

Steven: Sustainability and digitization are really the two core pillars of our company strategy. We see a strong relationship between the two. The more we can digitize, the more we can also advance sustainability—both for our company and for our customers. Many companies are now making sustainability a key part of their strategy, so we make sure they have all the information and tools they need to make the right choices.

Our EcoStruxure program, for example, helps customers figure out how to be more sustainable, save money, and use energy more efficiently. It’s not just about doing good for the planet—it’s also good business. Finance teams are happy when energy costs go down and efficiency goes up. We look at both: supporting our customers’ sustainability goals, but also helping them save and operate more effectively.

On the other side, it’s true that AI is resource-intensive. That’s why we work with companies developing data centers and large-scale infrastructure to help them design more energy-efficient, sustainable solutions. Because we’re leaders in both sustainability and digital infrastructure, they look to us for help figuring out how to build the next generation of green data centers.

Sawyer: That’s incredible—and, honestly, that topic has been hotter than ever at all the recent industry conferences. There’s so much focus and demand, both from businesses and the workforce.

Steven, thank you so much for joining us today. Before we go, what advice would you give other digital leaders looking to overhaul their platforms or customer experience, especially if they want to do it sustainably and with a global mindset?

Steven: My biggest piece of advice is to make sure you have alignment at the C-level. Getting buy-in from your top executives—CIO, CEO, CFO—is absolutely critical. Everyone needs to be moving in the same direction and understand what the company is trying to achieve. There’s a huge amount of opportunity out there right now. Some of it is intimidating, and some of it is exciting, but you have to be aligned at the top to take advantage of it.

Sawyer: Steven, this has been a really insightful conversation. Thank you again for joining the B2B Uncut podcast.

Steven: Thanks, Sawyer. Have a great day.