Academy Smart Increased Margin by 20% by Fixing Delivery
KEY RESULT • 1
20% margin increase
KEY RESULT • 2
60% client satisfaction increase
THE CHALLENGE
Service delivery that drains profit and pushes clients away
Vlad Sokol, CEO of Academy Smart, came to every strategy meeting meaning to talk growth. Instead, the discussion always turned to the same question: “What went wrong this time?”
Projects kept slipping. Sales closed promising deals, but delivery fell apart just months later. Estimates were off. Planning was weak. Developers were dragged into poorly scoped projects.
The breaking point came when a well-known, high-margin client left after the delivery didn’t meet expectations. The Head of Delivery couldn’t defend estimates, manage expectations, or push back on client demands.
Margins were low. Morale was worse. So Vlad reached out to Wiseboard for external consultation.
Client
Academy Smart
Headquarters
The UK
Founded
2009
Company size
100+
Industry
IT services (design & dev)
“I knew our delivery processes needed to change, but I didn’t know what that change should look like.”
Vlad Sokol
CEO at Academy Smart
“I knew our delivery processes needed to change, but I didn’t know what that change should look like.”
Vlad Sokol
CEO at Academy Smart
TRANSFORMATION SCOPE
OBJECTIVE • 1
Redesign delivery and staffing to improve project margins
OBJECTIVE • 2
Align delivery with pre-sale and client expectations
Wiseboard brought in Denys Rudenko, an experienced advisor with over 13 years in the IT industry.
Wiseboard brought in Denys Rudenko, an experienced advisor with over 13 years in the IT industry.
“Many IT companies focus on sales and marketing to grow and don’t pay attention to the quality of their services. That’s where key growth opportunities lie. We worked with Academy Smart to find and address those opportunities.”
Denys Rudenko
Wiseboard advisor
“Many IT companies focus on sales and marketing to grow and don’t pay attention to the quality of their services. That’s where key growth opportunities lie. We worked with Academy Smart to find and address those opportunities.”
Denys Rudenko
Wiseboard advisor
In their very first workshop, Denys spotted a critical gap: Academy Smart had no Account Management (AM) function. Without it, they lacked visibility into client goals, satisfaction, and upsell opportunities. That led to a separate engagement with Wiseboard’s AM advisor, Olha Klok.
In the meantime, Vlad kept working with Denys on delivery. In the first few weeks, they audited how delivery worked, from onboarding and stakeholder management to budgeting and handoffs. Denys ran workshops, assigned follow-ups, and shared needed materials.
“We had no documented processes. Denys showed me what needed to be in place.”
Vlad Sokol
CEO at Academy Smart
“We had no documented processes. Denys showed me what needed to be in place.”
Vlad Sokol
CEO at Academy Smart
Below is a breakdown of Denys’ approach and the key actions that helped Academy Smart hit their goals.
THE SOLUTION
Delivery optimization to protect margin and encourage client satisfaction
Denys helped Academy Smart put a clear delivery structure in place – one that improved gross profit margins (GPM), optimized delivery ops, and set the stage for long-term performance improvement.
His approach followed three key stages:
Advisor
Denys Rudenko
Current Position
CEO at Yalantis
Key expertise
Delivery and OpsBusiness DevelopmentAccount ManagementProject Portfolio Management
Background
13+ years of experience in the IT industry. Promoted to CEO from PM, Delivery Director, and COO at Yalantis in 6 years.
“Academy Smart is now stronger and more confident when negotiating with clients.”
Denys Rudenko
Wiseboard advisor
“Academy Smart is now stronger and more confident when negotiating with clients.”
Denys Rudenko
Wiseboard advisor
RECOMMENDATIONS
Objective 1: Redesign delivery and staffing processes to improve project margins
Action #1. Track margin and cut low-value projects
Denys introduced a margin-tracking file that he and Vlad used extensively. Academy Smart now knows how to calculate project-level margins, identify unprofitable accounts, and cut them. They dropped "garbage projects," removed costly learning/bench time, and defined target margins for fixed-price and T&M models.
Action #2. Define clear delivery roles and expectations
Next, Denys helped outline what a Head of Delivery should own, from project kickoff to budgeting, and supported hiring and onboarding a new one who matched those expectations.
Action #3. Rebuild project management and risk practices
The existing project managers were let go due to a lack of structure. Denys helped the CEO rebuild project management from the ground up, with risk management as a core element.
Now:
PMs also manage projects with margin targets in mind, backed by an updated bonus system. The result?
”Now, we release projects with the margin we planned.”
– Vlad Sokol, CEO at Academy Smart
Objective 2: Align delivery with pre-sale and client expectations
Action #1. Rebuild the pre-sale workflow with delivery in mind
Pre-sale used to fail because sales worked alone. Denys helped redesign the process by involving delivery early. They improve estimates, catch risks, and present as a full team. Client onboarding was also rebuilt to include AM and delivery leads from day one. This helps prevent unrealistic timelines and improve delivery accuracy – a key reason client satisfaction rose to 100%.
Action #2. Standardize documentation and knowledge transfer
Before, project knowledge lived in people’s heads. If someone left, the team couldn’t continue. As Vlad put it, “it was simply the death of the client.”
Now, all key processes are stored in a single source of truth. When a project member needs to be replaced, the new person can start contributing immediately. Denys helped define what to document and set it up in Confluence – onboarding flows, RACI, budgets, stakeholder maps. He worked directly with Vlad and the new delivery lead to make it stick.
”All key knowledge now stays in the company, even if someone leaves.”
– Vlad Sokol, CEO at Academy Smart
This way, Academy Smart now ensures that what’s sold in pre-sale is what gets delivered, even if people change mid-project. That consistency is what keeps client expectations aligned and satisfaction high.
”Denys helped me a lot – systematically. Now, when fellow founders tell me they have a growth problem, I ask: how good is your delivery? If you don’t have client references, that’s your red flag to fix delivery and account management first.”
Vlad Sokol
CEO at Academy Smart
”Denys helped me a lot – systematically. Now, when fellow founders tell me they have a growth problem, I ask: how good is your delivery? If you don’t have client references, that’s your red flag to fix delivery and account management first.”
Vlad Sokol
CEO at Academy Smart
BUSINESS IMPACT
SOLUTION
EFFECTIVENESS
IMPACT
Tracked margin per project
Cut unprofitable accounts and improved GPM
Rebuilt PM and risk flow
Projects are more predictable and on budget
Standardized documentation
New team members can onboard fast
Aligned pre-sale with delivery
More accurate estimates. Client satisfaction rose to 100%
BUSINESS IMPACT
Solution
Tracked margin per project
Impact
Cut unprofitable accounts and improved GPM
Solution
Rebuilt PM and risk flow
Impact
Projects are more predictable and on budget
Solution
Standardized documentation
Impact
New team members can onboard fast
Solution
Aligned pre-sale with delivery
Impact
More accurate estimates. Client satisfaction rose to 100%
THE RESULT
One of the first results? A 15K/year margin increase from just one account. Behind that result was a complete delivery reset: new Head of Delivery, better project estimates, clear documentation, and risk management.
Before
After
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