Pega is a leading US-based tech company known for its enterprise AI decisioning and workflow automation platform that helps some of the world’s biggest, most recognised, and successful brands tackle real-time optimisation challenges in customer engagement, service, and operations.
The inflexion point
When Catherine Dutton arrived at Pegasystems in May 2022, ABM had already been in place for a few years. However, as Dutton, now VP Global Growth Marketing explains, it was then very much focused on winning new business as a form of deal-based marketing rather than concentrating on a more strategic, one-to-one approach.
The programme has since undergone a significant revamp, with the ABM strategy increasingly geared toward creating deeper relationships and expanding business with existing clients, she says, “In the last few years, we’ve had many discussions about what ABM really is, and the power and value you can get from helping shape initial conversations with a client rather than coming in at the end when you spot an opportunity and are looking to close it. We realise it can help broaden and deepen your footprint into other areas within an organisation, and the relationships you have with different stakeholders, beyond one or two pinpoint opportunities.”
Today, the ABM programme combines a blended approach spanning Strategic ABM, Strategic ABM Lite, and a Programmatic approach to add the most value to the business. With the change in emphasis, Dutton decided it was time to invest in upskilling the team. From her global team, she identified twelve experienced ABM-ers who needed to deepen their skills, and ten less experienced marketers who would benefit from understanding how to apply ABM principles to their campaigns.
Our engagement
Dutton asked for Inflexion Group’s support to develop her team’s capability, building their competence and confidence at both stages of their ABM journey. We recommended customising our ABM Practitioner and Advanced ABM Practitioner courses for Pega’s unique context and strategy. Both courses would help the team adopt best practices to increase the impact of their ABM programmes.
Experienced course leaders Louise Jefferson and Jacqueline Gummer worked with Dutton to agree on the learning objectives and content of the courses, covering the proven five-step process for ABM tailored to Pega’s own processes, systems and terminology. Pega selected a strategic account from the telecoms sector plus a mid-tier banking segment of accounts to use as case studies for both courses, bringing the ABM process to life for delegates working in teams to create their ABM plan for one or the other.
The ABM Practitioner
Delivered over four, two-hour sessions during January and February 2025, this course covered the core principles of ABM for B2B marketers, focusing on how to apply them to increase the impact of marketing programmes and campaigns into top accounts. Pega’s marketers learned about the steps that ABM-ers work through to develop and execute ABM plans, and how to apply the principles to their own programmes and campaigns during these sessions:
- Selecting and onboarding accounts
- The insight phase and deciding where to focus
- Designing the right marketing strategy
- Developing and delivering campaigns
Each session included proven concepts, group work and best-practice case studies as well as an opportunity for delegates to shape an ABM campaign for joint certification from Pega and Inflexion Group. All ten delegates on the course achieved their certification.
The Advanced ABM Practitioner
The ABM Academy customised and delivered this course through eight, two-hour sessions between December 2024 and February 2025:
- Introduction, ABM best practices, and your role as an ABM-er
- Prioritising and onboarding accounts
- Building actionable insight
- Designing the right marketing strategy
- Creating your ABM plan: Part one — Content
- Creating your ABM plan: Part one — Communications
- Activating your plan
- Accreditation webinar
Teams built a draft Strategic or Segment ABM plan together as they worked through the sessions, which they refined and the shared with each other and with Dutton on the accreditation webinar with great success.
Key outcomes
The feedback from delegates on both courses has been excellent, with everyone saying the course they attended contained good ideas and concepts that they could take away, adapt and implement at Pega.
Delegates on the ABM Practitioner said:
The course was super informative. I learnt lots and had fun along the way!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the opportunity to participate in the course and gain this accreditation. It was a great experience, and I enjoyed the discussions and teamwork.
I can definitely recommend this course.
Delegates on the Advanced ABM Practitioner commented:
This was a great course to solidify my ABM knowledge and take it to the next level. I would definitely recommend it.
I feel more empowered in relation to ABM and am looking forward to the next chapter.
We’ve done a couple of other courses in the past, and I think this one, even though it’s intense and was a lot of work you did an amazing job of just walking us through it week-by-week, taking it in small chunks and making it fun. I think it was really great.
Dutton is thrilled with the progress her team has made. “The plans that were created and shared are already being implemented in Pega to enable our growth strategy — and the team’s feedback speaks for itself.” What is critical, concludes Dutton, is to make sure that everyone understands what ABM is and what role ABM-ers can play in contributing to company success: “I really want to keep driving hard on consistency in what we are executing and making sure that best practice is shared and implemented across everything we do. It’s all about people working together as part of one team for the benefit of a specific customer.”
