Artkai Retained Their First Enterprise Clients With a Proper Account Management Strategy
KEY RESULT • 1
AM function evolved from startups to enterprises
KEY RESULT • 2
10 new upsell opportunities in motion
THE CHALLENGE
Your top two accounts bring 40% of revenue. But you have no plan to retain them.
Artkai built its name working with startups. They delivered 100+ projects and helped their clients raise $1B+.
Then came the next chapter: enterprise clients. Two of them now make up 40% of Artkai’s total revenue.
But account managers (AMs) were still operating with a startup mindset: fast, informal, reactive. They weren’t trained to consider long-term planning, margins, or upsell strategy. And you can’t just shift to enterprise-level account management without structure.
With nearly half of the revenue at stake, they couldn’t risk losing those accounts.
So Artkai knew they needed to strengthen their AM function and develop Account Development Plans (ADPs) to grow enterprise clients. They had two options: figure it out on their own, or bring in experts who’d done it before. They called Wiseboard, a company they’ve worked with before.
Client
ARTKAI
Headquarters
Poland
Founded
2014
Company size
100+
Industry
IT services (design & dev)
“Previously, we worked with startups and medium-sized businesses. As we’ve started working with enterprise clients lately, we needed expert guidance on how to engage them effectively.”
Andrew Efrem
Head of Partnerships at Artkai
“Previously, we worked with startups and medium-sized businesses. As we’ve started working with enterprise clients lately, we needed expert guidance on how to engage them effectively.”
Andrew Efrem
Head of Partnerships at Artkai
TRANSFORMATION SCOPE
OBJECTIVE • 1
Equip the team to manage enterprise accounts
OBJECTIVE • 2
Make the AM function profitable
Wiseboard connected Artkai with Anna Zherdel, a senior advisor who’s spent over a decade growing enterprise accounts at companies like EPAM.
Wiseboard connected Artkai with Anna Zherdel, a senior advisor who’s spent over a decade growing enterprise accounts at companies like EPAM.
“To secure their future growth, Artkai needed help stabilizing and scaling AM operations.”
Anna Zherdel
Wiseboard advisor
“To secure their future growth, Artkai needed help stabilizing and scaling AM operations.”
Anna Zherdel
Wiseboard advisor
During workshops and strategy sessions with Artkai’s C-level and AM team, Anna saw that the issue wasn’t skill gaps. It was structure. The team had no onboarding materials, no frameworks, or defined responsibilities among account managers, sales, and delivery. Everyone was improvising.
Before Artkai could implement ADPs for enterprise clients, they had to establish an AM process first. Anna stepped in to help Artkai build it from the ground up, defining AM roles, creating templates, and teaching the team how to manage large, strategic accounts.
“The most valuable part [of this project] was having someone who knew exactly how to do what we didn’t.”
Andrew Efrem
Head of Partnerships at Artkai
“The most valuable part [of this project] was having someone who knew exactly how to do what we didn’t.”
Andrew Efrem
Head of Partnerships at Artkai
Below is a breakdown of Anna’s solution and the key areas the Artkai team had to master to reach their two transformation goals.
THE SOLUTION
A framework for enterprise account management
Anna didn’t just offer isolated fixes. She proposed a complete framework to build Artkai’s account management function from the ground up.
The approach was simple: give the team the tools and knowledge they needed to confidently work with enterprise clients.
The framework has two key parts:
Advisor
Anna Zherdel
Current Position
Senior Director, Account Management at EPAM Systems
Key expertise
Business DevelopmentStrategic PartnershipsAccount ManagementProgram ManagementProject Portfolio Management
Background
Senior IT services leader with 10+ years’ experience managing $60M+ enterprise accounts.
Account management transformation framework for Artkai
RECOMMENDATIONS
Objective 1: Equip the team to work with enterprise
Action #1. Build a replicable process to handle complex clients
Anna presented a 9-stage flow that walks AMs through the entire account management cycle, from the first client analysis to project closure.
Account management process
This way, every AM follows the same steps. With this structure, the team knows the flow to manage their largest accounts, which make up over 40% of revenue, and is prepared for the next wave of enterprise clients.
Action #2. Teach key enterprise concepts for every stage
Anna mapped core knowledge areas to each of those 9 steps. This includes information on engagement models, contract types, proposal strategy, pricing, and forecasting tips, as well as best practices for escalation, upsell, and governance.
Now, Artkai AMs know how to:
Investigate the client’s structure, strategy, and key stakeholders
Navigate legal steps like NDAs, contract flows, and internal approvals
Build financially sound proposals using P&L modeling and margin forecast
Run structured discovery phases with proper BA inputs
Monitor success metrics, forecast revenue, and update account plans
Lead proposal meetings and spot upsell opportunities
Run intro meetings with clear value messaging and proposal questions
Collaborate with PMs, BAs, and Delivery during pricing and scoping
Select and negotiate the right engagement and contract types
Manage project wrap-up, handovers, and long-term client relationships
Action #3. Clarify who owns what
Anna rolled out RACI matrices across AM, sales, and delivery teams for outstaff and outsource projects. It helps the Artkai team clearly define who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed during every step in the client management process.
Now the team knows
RACI matrix for outstaff
Now, no one will drop the ball because they “thought someone else was handling it.”
Objective 2: Make AM function profitable
Action #1. Roll out Account Development Plans to grow enterprise clients
With Anna’s guidance, Artkai filled out their first Account Development Plan (ADP) for one of their enterprise clients. Anna provided the template, explained how it works, and walked the team through it step by step.
Anna’s template walks the team through three key steps:
Understand the client
Map out the client’s strategy, org chart, initiatives, and competitors
The client and us
Link client needs to Artkai’s offerings, case studies, and strategic partners
Build a plan
Define a revenue forecast and outline specific actions to achieve it.
Now that they’ve done it once, the team is equipped to use the same approach on other accounts independently and plan account growth.
It’s already paying off: using this approach, Artkai identified and structured 10 new opportunities within that first account – a strong start, even before the revenue kicks in.
Action #2. Motivate results with a performance-based bonus system
Finally, Anna introduced a structured bonus system for AMs, sales, and delivery. It gives everyone clear targets and shared motivation.
For AMs, bonuses are calculated using:
For Sales and Delivery teams, bonus formulas are aligned with their role-specific KPIs, including:
Example of key performance indicators and bonus approach for AMs
”Before Anna, we relied on intuition. Now we have structure, templates, and a clear plan for working with enterprise clients. We had someone who knew exactly what to do – and showed us how.”
Andrew Efrem
Head of Partnerships
”Before Anna, we relied on intuition. Now we have structure, templates, and a clear plan for working with enterprise clients. We had someone who knew exactly what to do – and showed us how.”
Andrew Efrem
Head of Partnerships
BUSINESS IMPACT
SOLUTION
EFFECTIVENESS
IMPACT
Defined AM role and responsibilities
Confidence in managing and growing enterprise accounts
Training on budgeting and margin control
Financially predictable projects
Account Development Plans (ADPs)
A repeatable method to expand key accounts strategically
Performance-based bonus system
Teams rewarded for upsells, planning, and long-term thinking
BUSINESS IMPACT
Solution
Defined AM role and responsibilities
Impact
Confidence in managing and growing enterprise accounts
Solution
Training on budgeting and margin control
Impact
Financially predictable projects
Solution
Account Development Plans (ADPs)
Impact
A repeatable method to expand key accounts strategically
Solution
Performance-based bonus system
Impact
Teams rewarded for upsells, planning, and long-term thinking
THE RESULT
Artkai and Wiseboard continue working together in an on-demand format. So far, Artkai has achieved the following results:
Before
The team improvised with no clear process.
Roles were unclear. Teams often overlapped or missed responsibilities.
Dependance on a few large clients (40%
of revenue)
Big accounts were managed on gut feeling.
After
9-stage AM process everyone follows.
RACI matrix defined exactly who does what at every stage.
Strategic planning started with these clients. 10 new opportunities spotted.
ADPs help spot new revenue.
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