At the recent European ABM Forum 2025, attendees got a rare behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build a scalable, high-performing Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy. One standout example was the Adyen ABM strategy, offering key takeaways for B2B leaders looking to align teams and drive growth.
That story came from Ricky Wolff, Revenue Operations Technology Manager at Adyen, a global financial technology platform and valued Adobe customer. Ricky walked us through their journey of aligning people, processes, and technology to create a seamless, collaborative engine for engaging high-value accounts.
But this wasn’t just a success story. It was a real, honest look at the challenges, lessons, and transformational steps Adyen had to take – many of which reflect where the entire B2B industry is headed.
Adyen’s ABM transformation: from silos to synergy
Adyen began by tackling a familiar challenge: internal silos. Marketing, sales, and revenue operations were operating independently. To drive sustainable ABM success, Adyen established a dedicated Revenue Operations team tasked with breaking down those walls and supporting the commercial organization more strategically.
“Trust was a big challenge. People weren’t used to working in this way. We had to prove value quickly, communicate clearly, and align on shared outcomes.” – Ricky Wolff
This shift wasn’t just structural – it was cultural. With leadership buy-in, new meeting cadences, and a clear North Star metric for contribution, Adyen began building a system where everyone – from SDRs to sales leadership – was aligned around a unified ABM motion.
Scaling ABM with local adaptation and global consistency
One of Adyen’s biggest successes came from balancing global standardization with local flexibility.
The team developed a clear framework for:
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Defining and validating target account lists (TALs)
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Creating consistent reporting processes
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Establishing ABM roles and responsibilities
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Capturing and sharing early wins across markets
Markets deemed mature enough for ABM were trained with on-site workshops, detailed playbooks, and the expectation to “launch fast, iterate, and scale.”
“The key is to test what works, optimize it, and then expand. We didn’t roll this out to 1,400 commercial team members at once. We scaled intentionally and carefully.”
How Adyen measures ABM success without a dedicated platform
Adyen tracks both leading and lagging indicators to measure ABM impact. These include:
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Increase in average deal size for target accounts
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Faster deal velocity when partners are engaged
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Year-over-year pipeline growth from TAL accounts
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Insights into marketing- and SDR-influenced pipeline
Interestingly, while Adyen uses a suite of 22 tools to support marketing and sales, they’ve chosen not to adopt a dedicated ABM platform. Instead, they maximize the tools they already have to keep the Adyen ABM strategy lean and flexible.
AI in ABM: Adyen’s practical applications and time savings
AI is a strategic focus for Adyen’s Revenue Operations team. The company is exploring a range of AI use cases, including:
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Personalizing sales messaging
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Streamlining the RFP process, which currently takes an average of 19 hours per response
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Enhancing internal access to product marketing content using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
“AI is helping us save time, personalize at scale, and free up our teams to focus on building relationships – not doing admin.” – Ricky Wolff
Adobe’s vision: the AI-powered future of B2B Marketing
The Adyen ABM strategy is a powerful example of how AI is shaping the future of ABM and B2B marketing. But it’s also part of a broader industry trend:
We’re entering a new era of B2B technology, driven by the rise of AI-powered customer experience (CX) orchestration.
“The future of B2B marketing lies in customer experience orchestration powered by purpose-built AI agents. These agents will act as force multipliers – working quietly in the background or right alongside your teams – to expand capacity, accelerate execution, and ensure your brand consistently delivers high-impact, personalized experiences at scale.” – Paul van Keeken, Head of Marketing Benelux, Adobe
Adobe is leading this transformation – helping B2B teams not just adapt to change, but lead it.
Watch Adobe Summit 2025 On-Demand
Want to learn more about how leaders like Adyen are transforming ABM with AI?
Explore sessions from Adobe Summit 2025, held March 18–20 in Las Vegas – now available on-demand.
About the European ABM Forum
The European ABM Forum is where collaboration ignites transformation—between sales and marketing, and businesses and their customers.
Brought to you by B2B Marketing and SPOTONVISION, the Forum features interactive sessions and impactful networking, delivering actionable strategies for B2B marketers across Europe.
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