Declan Mulkeen (strategicabm) – So today I’m joined by Cheryl Caudill, who's the Global ABM and Demand Marketing Leader at IBM. Cheryl, thanks so much for joining us today.
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Thank you for having me, Declan.
Declan (strategicabm) – Well, we've been tagging each other for a long time to arrange to have you as a guest on Let's talk ABM. I'm delighted that you could come on the show, and looking forward to talking all things Marketing and ABM with you for the next 30 or 40 minutes, or so.
We’ll talk, no doubt, about your ABM Center of Excellence and how it’s helping IBM scale ABM.
Let's kick off with a question, Cheryl, about you. Obviously, on your LinkedIn profile, what jumped out at me is that obviously you've been involved in Marketing, ABM, for a long time. I think you've been at IBM for 25 years, approximately, I think. Which is, you know, it's a long career at the Big Blue!
Just reflecting a little bit on that, 25 years and obviously ABM has been around for probably about 20 or 21, 22 of those years. So just any reflections you have on that kind of Marketing career that you've been through, and the kind of Marketing, how you've seen it evolve?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah, absolutely! So, you know, it's not quite 25 years. I still have a few months to go! But it's an amazing milestone!
And you know, to be honest, when I started at IBM, it was very much a Product Marketing-focused organization. So I joined and our systems organization was very much about pushing product, right? We had budgets aligned to products, we had, you know, client sets aligned to product.
And now, fast-forward, it's really all about the client, right? So, we are really focused on understanding client needs, spending time on client insights and really trying to match our solutions to their problems; versus pushing a product at them and hoping it solves some problem or another. So, I think that's the biggest shift I've seen, you know, over the years.
Declan (strategicabm) – And obviously we were talking just before recording about how long IBM has been around for. And I think you said since about 1911, which is, what's the maths on that? 114 years? And obviously, wherever IBM started, the company – the companies today, rather – is just, it's remarkable that it's actually evolved and stayed relevant.
If you think about how many companies are not around that were around and very large 10, 15, 20 years ago, right? So I think that evolution, both in terms of what you said, Marketing, but also in terms of IBM and what it does, and what it offers, is, another remarkable story, right?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Oh, absolutely. I mean, we think we started with tabulating machines, right? And now it's, you know, evolved and always staying ahead of the curve.
We have a huge division in IBM which is all about research. So, we are always looking 5, 10, 20 years out, and developing technologies. And really staying ahead of what customers are looking for, right? So, you know, if it's AI, quantum... so really just staying ahead of the curve and making sure we're preparing our clients for what's coming next.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, and I think we'll probably touch a little bit on that mention of AI a little bit later on in the show. And I think, you know, having spoken to one of your colleagues, Andrew Watkins, about Watson, which has been around... I think you were kind of at the vanguard, very early stages of artificial intelligence, right? So I think people may be talking about OpenAI, and all these kind of people – but you guys have been doing this AI thing for a lot, lot longer, right?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – We have. It's been a long time, you know, project: we had Watson. I think everyone remembers Watson playing, you know, on Jeopardy years and years ago. And you know, really, what we've done is evolved it into a business solution, right?
So yes, there's a lot of AI out there, but our focus is really on the business of AI. And you know, making sure it's going to help our enterprise clients solve their challenges, right? Which is again, where ABM comes into play, right? Matching, you know, what they're trying to solve with any of our solutions. But obviously leading with, you know, Watsonx and AI. So, yeah; definitely an evolution.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah. So let's touch on that, then. ABM – obviously your role there, I understand, is heading up the ABM Center of Excellence, the ABM CoE. Could you talk to us a little bit about that?
'Cause not everyone will be familiar with what a Center of Excellence is. How does that work in practice? What does it do for the business? And how, perhaps, do you support the global teams delivering ABM regionally, when you're sitting there in... I think you're in upstate New York, aren't you?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah! Really right outside of New York City, yep.
So, it's a great question and actually it's one of the reasons that I think the program has seen a lot of success, is that, you know, we decided early on that in order to have a program, as you said, with practitioners sitting in markets all over the country, that we really needed to have a Center of Excellence.
Some companies call it a Global Program Office, right? Where we can help to set some of the standards and make sure that there's consistency across the program. And as a Global Program Office sitting, like you said, in New York, you know, we focus on things that we can roll out easily. And some of those things really started with education, right?
So we really wanted to ensure that all of the ABM practitioners had the same methodology. You know, yes, they can localize it and you know, really it's about understanding their clients in their markets. But, making sure their education was consistent, their tools are consistent. And then as a Global Program Office, we also made sure we set some standards. You know, make sure that everyone has the same KPIs that they're working towards.
Early on, we really focused on templates and, you know, best practices and really kind of making sure that there was a place that they can come to if they had any, really, needs to help us figure out even how to evolve our program, right?
So by, you know, having this Center of Excellence, we even have evolved as a team. We build community. We manage monthly calls and we have a, like a website dedicated to the program.
So it really just helped make sure that, you know, each of the practitioners wasn't out and about looking for tools and solutions; that it was all centralized and, you know, designed to make their jobs easier and make, give them more time to spend with their account teams. Versus, you know, managing a lot of the day-to-day operational pieces of their jobs.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, I think there's a couple of things I love that you just said there. I just wrote down 'a place to come to' was like Friends or, whatever, not Friends! What was the name of the bar in Cheers?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Oh... I don't remember!
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, it's just... it's gone out of my head, but just like the bar in Cheers. It's 'a place to come to', right? And hang out!
And I think also the thing you mentioned there as well about the kind of two-way community, right? So it's not you just pushing out everything to the regions, but everyone saying, 'Hey! I've got this great tool – we need to look at it!' And then you and your team assess it, and then you roll it out globally, right?
So I think it's particularly in this kind of modern day, when we're inundated with tools, right? I think that's a very useful way that it's actually coming to you, not just coming from you, right?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah. And I think, you know, one of the... so obviously there's the practice of ABM and the operations, but really there's also a culture around ABM. And as you said, you know, a big thing that we wanted to do early on was create an open community, right? And as you said, it is two-way; everyone knows how to reach me, everyone does reach out to me and my team, and it's very open. It's like there are no dumb questions, just like, ‘let's figure this out together’.
And so we really created this community, right? And we actually call it our ABM community because it is very much about sharing, learning, you know, asking questions and, you know, finding answers together and then sharing that back out with the rest of the community. So, it's been a really nice atmosphere and a nice culture that we've built around the Center for excellence.
Declan (strategicabm) – And can you talk briefly, perhaps, that point you mentioned there about regional and local kind of adaptations or market nuances? Obviously if you are doing ABM in... I don't know whether you are doing ABM in China? Or you're doing ABM in Japan, or elsewhere? These are very different markets to perhaps North America, right?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah, so I think, like I said early on, we spend a lot of time investing in a methodology, right? So in terms of the way the teams go about understanding their accounts, they all spend a lot of time on client insights, deep understanding, you know, going through the process of figuring out what it is they need to work on.
So they are embedded within the account teams, and that's actually why our ABMers sit in markets. So to your point, we do have ABMers in every geography. And they sit very closely with their account teams. And you know, once they leverage the, you know, the art of ABM to figure out where they as marketers can make the biggest impact, then they can figure out what makes sense for that particular account or market.
So, you know, they have access to a lot of the same resources, but to your point, you know, it might not apply in one market or the other. It might not work as well in one market or the other. So we do give them the flexibility and budget to kind of do some things that need to be, you know, localized.
But we also do a lot of best practice sharing. So the teams start to think about if something worked in the UK, how can I apply that in Japan? But, you know, it might need to be with a local partner or it might need to be, you know, less focused on social or whatever that looks like. But we do a lot of sharing, so they can then...
And then they ask each other questions like: How did you do that? Who did you work with? You know. What would be something similar in my market that I can maybe leverage? So, we do give them that flexibility because it really is about, you know, meeting their clients where they are, and making sure, you know, they're, they're having an impact in the way they need to be.
Declan (strategicabm) – I love that. There's two quotes I love from you there, Cheryl – 'meeting clients where they are'. You said that several times now and I love that. And the other one that you said that I loved was 'the art of ABM' – and I think you said allowing the regional teams to figure out 'the art of ABM' in their regions, right? I think those are... I think those could be going on a T-shirt very soon!
Just, maybe this is a difficult question for you to answer, but what would you say makes IBM's approach to ABM different or unique?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – So, you know, one of the things I've learned about ABM is that it's different in every company, right? It really has to fit the business model and the way that your organization is set up. And you know, I actually... one of the things I love about ABM is that it's such an open community where people share.
So, even a lot of the people that have been on your podcast are colleagues, you know, are friends and colleagues of mine that we share with each other: How are you doing this? How are you dealing with this challenge? And you know, a lot of people are willing to share because it really is unique to each company.
So we happened to, when we started the program aligned to industry, right? And we decided to have like a global Center of Excellence, but have the ABMers sit in market. And – maybe not unique – but this industry approach has really helped us, you know, gain some synergies. So, you know, common SMEs around an industry; common, you know, thought leadership around an industry has really helped us.
And we try to group the accounts that an ABMer has by industry, right? So they can start to see some trends, you know, they can focus around certain industry events, things like that. So that was the approach that we took early on. But you know, understanding that each account is different even though they're in the same industry. But that was the way, you know, we had our setup... yeah.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah. Good points, I think there. I think that I would echo what you said there about the ABM community being, you know, very kind of open to sharing, very selfless. As you mentioned, a lot of the guests, you know, previous guests, you know, and I think I've been very lucky to learn from all of them.
And every time I kind of ping them a message and ask them for a favor, or ask them to contribute to it, to something, they always say yes. So it's remarkable, actually remarkable. And I think I love that kind of way you're explaining the fact that you've got the ABM Center of Excellence and then you could, you just said 'ABM in market' once again.
So I love that kind of model that you're saying that, hey! We're running the Center of Excellence and everyone is working out locally what to do based on our best practice and based on their local knowledge. And actually the fact that you mentioned they're sitting with their account teams, so you can't get any, almost any closer to the customer than being next to the account teams who are living and breathing the customer every day. Right?
And I think just to, it reminds me when I was talking to your colleague Andrew Watkins, who's doing ABM in the UK for IBM, I think he was mentioning that he had three or four or five accounts as, you know, not many more focusing particularly I think on the public sector in that area. So it goes back to your point around industry focus to get deep into that industry so that you really do know what makes them tick.
I think... is this? Obviously, we just mentioned at the top of the show that obviously ABM – sorry! ABM / IBM, we're getting mixed up with our acronyms now! Probably not for the last time on this show! But, IBM has been around since 1911. But I think you mentioned to me before we did this recording that ABM in its current state has been in existence for about four or five years at IBM. So, what's the story there? Is it a different iteration? Is it the first time? What's the story there?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah, it's a great question. So, ABM has been applied at IBM for years and years and years! In fact, you know, I think it goes back 20 years or so. But it was, honestly, Declan, more Targeted Marketing. Right? And so, you know, we had ABM iterations that sat within business units, typically. And so it was really just a way to kind of target accounts and go deep on accounts. But it was really still about selling a product or solution.
Declan (strategicabm) – Hmm.
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – So, about four years ago, as you said, you know, the Sales team, you know, was looking at how they, you know, segmented our clients and... a lot of resource and focus on, you know, what we call our top accounts, or our largest named accounts. And we had been looking at some best practices around ABM.
In fact, you know, we had acquired Red Hat and they had a really solid ABM program. So we learned a lot from them and thought, you know, maybe this is an opportunity for us to get even closer to Sales by building out an ABM practice. And by doing some research on what good looks like, you know, we discovered that having a global program, you know, with a Center of Excellence was really the way to go.
And to be truly client-centric, it has to be cross-IBM. And that's what's different about this program. We're not funded by a business unit. We're not... we don't have targets against certain products or solutions. It really is about the account, right? So it's almost like putting the A back in ABM, right? So, we really focused on understanding what their solutions are and you know, depending on what that looked like, we could be looking at something across our infrastructure solutions, or consulting, or software – ideally, you know, all of those combined.
But that was one of the big differences is that we took away that linkage to, you know, the business units and the products, and really allowed the teams to figure out where Marketing can help. We also, you know, understand that for these large accounts, there might be 10, 20 different opportunities being worked at the same time.
And so the design here is: 'OK, Marketing! Figure out where you can help!' Right? Like, where is an opportunity where they need help building relationships; where they need to, you know, help change the way the client sees IBM. And so, you know, they just really focused on where they thought Marketing would have the most impact. You know, typically over four, five, six quarters, which was very different. So yeah, that's kind of where we evolved to and why we think it's been working so well over the last few years.
Declan (strategicabm) – No, I love that. And I think almost like the way you've painted it is almost like the marketers can float around and work out a little bit like Deal-based Marketing or Pursuit-based Marketing when they're working on, Hey! There's an opportunity here – Marketing needs to come on board and help us to win this deal, or to close the deal, or to save a customer that potentially is a little bit wobbly or...
So there's all those kind of like, kind of mini objectives that are happening across your business and your Marketing and ABM can actually, you know, fly in, so to speak. Fly in, you know, like The A Team – fly in, sort it out, fly out! So, you know, B. A. Baracus and all that kind of stuff.
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah!
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah. So, and also, I love the fact that you were saying that in any kind of accounts that you are working with, there could be 10 or 20 opportunities, right? And you are right. 'Cause the size of the company, companies that you work with – these are the largest companies in the world, and with multiple divisions, multiple locations, geos, et cetera. So... and equally, you know, IBM – I don't know how many solutions you have, but I'm guessing it's more than a handful, right?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – More than a handful! And I think the other piece is by embedding the ABMers into the account team, they also understand the pace of the business, right? So they know equally when not to get involved, right? If Sales has got something covered, like go for it, right? You know, they kind of work together to figure out, you know, where it makes sense to kind of take a step back and where it makes sense to kind of jump in.
And it's been a really amazing evolution of the Sales and Marketing relationship. Which I think is one of the most exciting things about the program, right? It really is elevating Marketing as a true partner.
Declan (strategicabm) – I love that. I love that. And I think, Cheryl, the... that embedded – just like an embedded reporter, or an embedded war reporter, when the soldiers have trust with that individual, and tell their stories. Yeah, I think the same thing there with the embedded ABMers that the Sales team will get that trust with them and and build that trust, which as you know is so important to make everything work.
Talking about the ABMers, I think if the count was right, I think you said to me you had about 60?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah.
Declan (strategicabm) – Working all across the globe that's... talking about handfuls! That's quite a handful, right? So, I suppose my question around that is – and going back to your point around the CoE – do you think that's when really a CoE comes into its own, a Center of Excellence? 'Cause you've got to have a way to coordinate. You're not coordinating their actions per se, but you're definitely coordinating what they can actually play with, and the tools and the playbooks, et cetera. Right?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah, absolutely. And you know, in addition to the tools – and we'll talk about that – I think the other thing that we did very early on in the program was give them air cover, right? I mean, there was a lot of, 'What is ABM?' Like, 'What are they going to do for me?' Like, you know, you have to earn your seat at the table with the Sales teams, right?
So, we spent a lot of time, you know, explaining what ABM was to sellers, you know? Giving them, you know, small examples of wins, right? 'Did you know before you didn't have a relationship with this particular contact? And now you do. This is why!' So, we also... not only was it about the tooling and, you know, some of the resources that we bring to the ABMers, it was all it... it was also about building belief in the practice overall that gave them a little bit of that freedom. Which was important. And, you know, a lot of work that first year!
But to your point on tools that also after that first year when we were able to show results, you know, we started to see people saying: 'Hey! Do you want me to add a, you know, flag in some of our reporting, you know, for your ABM accounts?' You know, literally an ABMer could go into a tool, select their name and you know, just see the accounts aligned to them and see all the data they needed.
So, you know, it was a little bit of a journey to get to where, you know, the teams understood what we were doing and what help we needed. And then over time, you know, we really were able to work with our Insights team, our Analytics teams, the Content teams understood that, you know, for us to be able to personalize and customize things, content needed to be a little bit more modular.
Yeah, so it really is about our teams doing all that work in the background, so the ABMers don't need to worry about it. And then we're able to deliver. But it is also a lot of co-creation with the ABMers. So, one of the things, you know, we did early on was... and I spent a lot of time in geographies as well as global. And the thing is, don't just come and give me something that you think is important to me – let's work together!
So, you know, even on the insights, right? So you talked about, you know, Andy earlier. Like, he's great! Like, 'What do you need? Is this going to be useful to you?' And he said, 'Well, actually, you know, I'd like to see this view or that view.' And so it was really a lot of give and take to understand what the teams needed and what would be practical for them. And then, you know, our team would then work across IBM to try to build some new things for them. Or embed, like I said, ABM as, you know, within other existing tools.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, I think there's a couple of things I'd point, I'd pick up on there. One: I love that, again, 'earning a seat at the table' that you... you're so right there, Cheryl, in terms of how important that is. And I like to always talk about making the intangible tangible. 'Cause obviously, people talk about…
You know, I used to run Sales teams as well as Marketing teams and you know, I was fortunate because I was basically representing both. But, I've had other opportunities where I've worked when I've just been heading up Marketing and the Sales people might say, 'Oh God! Not another bloody Marketing initiative!' You know? 'Can you not just leave us alone to, you know, to make some sales?!'
And so, you know, having that ability to kind of spend time with them, explain what it is – show how it works, it's, you know, doing those kind of roadshows which other guests have talked about, going around and literally, you know, holding hands and showing what it looks like and showing what good looks like is so important.
And just the one thing you mentioned there, which I loved, and perhaps we could just touch briefly on that, is around, you mentioned about reporting and that they can go into the tools and they can actually update them to reflect the input from ABM. But if you talk about the results of your ABM initiative strategy globally; how... ? Talk to me a little bit about reporting. Does that all get done locally? Or do you kind of roll it up? Or... how do you do that?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – We do. So, in all of our reporting now, you can kind of see which you can filter by the ABM-covered accounts, or named accounts. And you know, very early on it was like a bit of an A/B test. We had, you know, a group of accounts and we were able to cover literally about half of them, right?
And you know, so that first year was like, 'Oh! Did the half we covered do better than the half we didn't cover?' Right? And then, you know, over time, we added a number of different filters to the reporting. But we can start to really understand where we're seeing a lift. And it's not just about revenue; it's in number of new contacts we're bringing into the company.
It could be around, you know, share of voice at that company. So there are a lot of different things that over time we've evolved. In the beginning it was literally just, 'Are we seeing more business? Are we seeing more revenue?' Now we're looking at like other different pieces of the business to try to understand where the impact of ABM is, you know, landing.
Declan (strategicabm) – So, it's a little bit more nuanced now, a little bit more kind of detailed... I mean, 'share of voice' – love that. I love that! How do you measure share? How do you guys measure share? You've probably got some wiz IBM tool, have you? To measure share of voice?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – We do have some 'wiz tools'! So AI that we use to understand, you know, what the conversations are being had in the market around AI and IBM, and the clients. We also, you know, look at some social; we use some social tools and some, you know, brand monitor kinds of things.
Declan (strategicabm) – Love that. One question that I'd like to ask you is about flavors. Well, what flavor of of ABM are you running there at IBM? Is it One-to-one, One-to-few? Is there any One-to-many? Or is that kind of called Industry Marketing and run elsewhere? Is it mainly One-to-one, One-to-few?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – It's mainly One-to-one and One-to-few. And we've actually evolved over time to be a little more in the One-to-few, right? Because we've been able to see some synergies that you know, an ABMer could take on a few more accounts. And, you know, we call those 'clusters' internally.
But there are these clusters of accounts that have, you know, similarities and the teams are able to, you know, cover some more. Some of our largest accounts still require that One-to-one model, just 'cause there's so much going on. And in terms of One-to-many, yeah, I would still call that a little bit more Targeted Marketing.
But you know, we have actually seen learnings from ABM starting to be applied to that, you know, Targeted Marketing in a bit of a different way where it's still... there is still more of an element of understanding the client set.
So, we have a lot of data now obviously using our own AI tools to understand, you know, where is the client in their journey? And so the 'targeting' part of the Targeted Marketing has become a lot smarter. Which allows us to then, you know, find some common ways to approach a larger group of customers, which would be called One-to-many I think in a lot of places.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, yeah.
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – So, yeah. But our core is probably in that like One-to-one, One-to-few.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah. Which makes sense, based on the type and the size of companies that tend to work with yourselves.
We talked at the top of the show about artificial intelligence and obviously we mentioned Watson that was one of the pioneers in terms of bringing AI to the market. And I think one thing that you were saying to me when we were chatting previous to this recording was that one of the things that IBM does is kind of, you know, put people's minds at ease, in terms of thinking about some of the challenges around artificial intelligence, some of the use cases, some of the data issues and security issues, clearly.
Talk to us a little bit about how you kind of... that kind of adoption, which can be quite intimidating for customers. How do you go about addressing perhaps some of those challenges, and kind of talking to customers about AI and particularly kind of the services that you can offer?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah, it's a great question because while everyone is excited about AI and you can kind of think about day-to-day use cases, like, 'Oh, I can figure out how to, like, an itinerary for my vacation!' Or, you know, 'I could write this exam paper!' Or whatever. The business of AI is very different, and as you said, it can be really daunting.
These are big decisions that, you know, our clients are making. And so we do spend a lot of time on education, completely non-sales, and this is where ABM tends to help, right? Its: 'Let us help you get comfortable with what it's all about.' Right? So that's, I think, a big thing that we offer. And it could be it's internal education – we offer them, you know, lots of different ways to gain comfort with the solutions.
We also do a lot of, you know, demos, hands-on. Like, get them to really experience AI. We do a lot of proofs of concept. And then quite frankly, we use ourselves as a use case, right? So like we have been using AI, for example, in our HR practices for the last few years, right? We call ourselves 'client zero', right? And… talk about sensitive data, right?! I mean, HR manages all of employee data. If it's hiring; if it's increasing productivity; if it's onboarding.
So, we do have a lot of those conversations about, um, how we have managed some of that. But then, you know, we also spent a lot of time, as you said... like this is not, you know, our first first year in AI! But, so we really spent a lot of time on the ethics of AI. And one of our solutions is actually called Watsonx of Governance, right? And it's actually designed to help our clients feel like there's, you know, transparency in the AI, they understand the sourcing of it, you know?
Built into every line of code, right, is this capability to understand, you know, the sourcing of it. And of course we've moved to this, you know, smaller language models, right? So it is an opportunity for us to show that, you know, ethics is built in and it's designed for a purpose. Versus just, you know, it's the universe and who knows what's true, what's not true!? So I think, yeah, it's education, it's demonstrating and it's, you know, using the proof points that we've come to see ourselves.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, yeah. I mean, previously we would use Google, right? And we'd Google something and hopefully we get the right answer. And now we're asking these language models, GenAI, et cetera, questions – and we hope that it's giving us the right, a truthful answer, right? So...
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yes.
Declan (strategicabm) – ... jumping from the fireplace or from the frying pan into the fire, or whatever the metaphor is!
Question for you, which actually goes back to the wider question about IBM, obviously a hundred and... whatever... ? 14 we decided, yeah! And I feel, you know – very famous when I was kind of growing up in the seventies, for that kind of the mainframes and all that kind of stuff when I was at university; we had an IBM mainframe there at university, et cetera.
So, that kind of hardware side was kind of the bread-and-butter of IBM. Now, as we mentioned, you know, the plethora of solutions and consultancy you offer, but I think that's one of the things that ABM is so powerful and it's helping with, right? Is shifting that perception, right? To the new state, the new company. Can you perhaps talk to an example? Have you got an example you can share where you talk to your customers and the wider market about that kind of shifting perception?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the Three Rs of ABM are: Reputation, Relevance and Revenue. And so we actually combine a lot of times Relationship and Relevance, right? So some of what we do as an ABM team is focus on various lines of business, right?
So to your point, you know, we know and love a lot of the IT leadership in a lot of our accounts, right? Which is where a lot of them grew up with, you know, our infrastructure solutions. But as I mentioned earlier, like, do we know the CHROs at all these companies? Well, that's an opportunity for us as an ABM team to, you know, meet with those different leaders, talk to them about different solutions. And you know, they're not in the business of hardware, as you said, right? They're in the business of solving their HR challenges, right? Which is really a software consulting-led discussion.
So, that's one area is, like I said, opening up various lines of business. And I think there's also best practice sharing, right? Like, you know, clients like to learn from other clients, right? As much as we want to tell them who we are, they see value in learning from each other. So we spend a lot of time creating peer exchanges and things like that.
So creating opportunities for our customers to talk to each other, and really see how is AI driving ROI for their business? Like, what does productivity look like in the world of AI, right? So, I think that's another area that we tend to spend time on.
And again, that's through the ABM program, along with, you know, we have a program that's focused on senior leaders and then we also work closely with our Analyst Relations team, our Comms team, influencers, right? To kind of make sure that we're bringing it all together and, you know, helping clients see and see for themselves like what, you know, IBM is doing versus just kind of thinking, oh yeah, back in the day, you know, it is all about mainframe. So, I think that's really where our teams tend to shine a little bit.
Declan (strategicabm) – No, that's a great; it's a great answer. And I love that thing about peer-to-peer. I like to call it peer-to-peer ABM.
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Yep.
Declan (strategicabm) – It's such a powerful... if you can put that as part of your program, it's such a powerful accelerator, if you can get it right.
So, Cheryl, just to finish off the show, I ask all guests for very rapid-fire questions. Just to finish off. Number one: What has been your greatest ABM learning?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – I think it's the best way to show the value of Marketing to Sales.
Declan (strategicabm) – Very short, very succinct! Love it! And what do you think the hardest part of ABM is?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Um, it requires patience. I think, you know, you need to kind of let it brew and work. And in the fast pace that we live in today, like people are immediately looking for, you know, outcomes and solutions. But I think it requires patience, and that's hard.
Declan (strategicabm) – Yeah, definitely. Not many people have patience. Greatest misconception?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – I think the greatest misconception is that ABM is not needed for large accounts. I think there's this idea that 'Sales has it covered! They know them!' But they really don't. They don't know them as well as they could. They don't have all the insights that they need. And I think that's sometimes where ABM has the biggest impact. So I think that's a misconception that it's not needed in the biggest accounts.
Declan (strategicabm) – I love that. And we're recording this on a Thursday. So fast-forward 24 hours into tomorrow: You've had a tough week there in upstate New York, and you want to wind down a little bit for the weekend, grab a beer, a coke, a wine... Dr Pepper, whatever your favorite tipple is.
And you get a call from an old friend saying, 'Hey Cheryl, you've got to help me. I've got to do a presentation on Monday morning to my CEO about a new ABM strategy.' And they say to you: 'What's that one thing that I must make sure I include?' So what's that one thing you would say to them to include in that presentation?
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Get buy-in from Sales early. You know, make this about the Sales and Marketing partnership, not just about another set of tactics or, you know, Marketing approaches. Just get in the boat together and, you know, you'll go faster, farther and, yeah, make a big impact together.
Declan (strategicabm) – Love that, Cheryl. What a previous guest said to me: make sure you have the Sales person in the presentation with you, which is basically make sure there's, they have some skin in the game, right? Yep. I love that. Yep.
Well, Cheryl, thank you for sharing your ABM journey with us today. And I wish you and your team there at IBM every success for the future. Thank you.
Cheryl Caudill (IBM) – Thank you so much for having me, Declan.
1. What is the purpose of an ABM Center of Excellence?
The ABM CoE acts as a centralized hub to ensure consistency across markets by setting shared methodologies, tools, education, and KPIs. It helps ABMers operate effectively while scaling ABM globally.
2. Why did IBM create a CoE for its ABM program?
IBM created a CoE to support ABMers embedded across global markets and provide standards, education, and shared tools—so they could focus on driving impact with account teams instead of operational admin.
3. What does the ABM CoE provide to local ABMers?
It offers consistent training, standardized templates, modular content, a dedicated intranet, regular calls, and a central support team—all designed to help ABMers spend more time with accounts and less time reinventing the wheel.
4. How does the CoE encourage knowledge sharing?
IBM fosters a community culture where ABMers share what works locally—tools, tactics, partners—and the CoE evaluates and scales relevant practices globally. It’s a two-way street, not top-down.
5. How does IBM’s CoE enable local market customization?
While methodology and KPIs are consistent, local teams have the autonomy and budget to adapt programs to market nuances. They choose what works best for their clients—social, in-person, partner-led, etc.—guided by the CoE.
6. How does the CoE help build sales alignment?
It gives ABMers “air cover” by explaining ABM’s value to sellers, showing quick wins, and building belief in the practice. Over time, this helps marketers earn a seat at the table with Sales.
7. What tools and infrastructure support the CoE?
The CoE works with analytics, insights, and content teams to integrate ABM into existing platforms. Over time, ABM-specific filters and dashboards were added to make account data more accessible.
8. What reporting does the ABM Center of Excellence enable?
The CoE introduced ABM filters in reporting tools so performance can be tracked by named accounts—measuring impact via revenue, contact growth, share of voice, and engagement, not just leads or pipeline.
9. How does the CoE support measurement of ABM success?
Initially focused on business lift vs. non-ABM accounts, IBM now measures nuanced outcomes like new stakeholder access and perception shifts—driven by CoE-enabled insights and infrastructure.
10. How does IBM’s CoE contribute to a culture of ABM?
It fosters openness, learning, and collaboration across ABMers through monthly calls, community-building, shared platforms, and responsive support—turning ABM from a program into a company-wide mindset.