How I introduced key account management at Azulatis

The situation

Azulatis is a unit carved out of De Watergroep and supplies water installations to large industrial customers. A company that becomes independent inherits an organisation built for something else.

For further growth, the follow-up of large customers had to move away from the CEO. What should take its place was defined nowhere. Who takes on that responsibility, what does it involve and how does it fit the existing organisation? Without answers to those questions, hiring makes little sense. You end up looking for someone to fill a role nobody can describe.

The analysis

Together with the management team we walked the full buyer journey, step by step, and placed the organisation alongside it. Who is accountable, who carries it out, who provides input, who needs to be kept informed. Every team, every manager.

That made visible which steps had no owner, and where several people each did a part without anyone watching the whole. The gap got a name and a role: key account manager.

The role

From that alignment I worked the role out in detail. Responsibilities, reporting lines, targets, and the position in the organisation chart. I also thought along about the channels through which the right candidates could be found.

Introducing a new role affects the people around it. I guided the internal communication so the change was carried rather than endured.

How the trajectory ran

Based on the RACI workshops I wrote the vacancy text and, together with the Sales Director, opened the interviews. I gave feedback on the candidates. Within a few weeks Azulatis was able to fill the new role.

The result

The key account manager started in early 2026 and has managed the relationship with the large customers since. The contact moments in the buyer journey stay with the colleagues who always handled them, while the KAM watches the whole.