Interesting insights into the psychology of B2B value from Bain & Company Inc and HBR; relating the reasons to buy to Maslow’s heirarchy of needs. To achieve inspirational value companies need to do more than improve efficiency and provide ROI.
There needs to be a real human connection with the purpose of the brand; it needs to provide vision, hope and social responsibility. Technology developers need to consider the impact of the solution on the people whom interact with it to ensure it satisfies the needs which are most important to create sustained business relationships.
Until AI can work out what to do (not just in response to request from a human), humans will be making the brand choices for some time to come. https://hbr.org/2018/03/the-b2b-elements-of-value