Kemal Balihodžić has a lengthy and very succesful track record behind him when it comes to business – CEO of Orior Media – a US-based marketing agency, motivational speaker, sales coach, business consultant and author of the best seller “Born for Success – From Applauder to Applause” which has experienced three successful editions and “50 Shades of Sales – The Art of Domination” has taken on the role of JR Services CEO, bringing new perspectives and an immediate boost in company’s outlook for the coming years.
While being interviewed on the topic of his commitment to JR Services, he had the following to say:
- What does JR Services stand for?
Well firstly, we believe in human values such as respect, long term partnerships and social responsibility. JR people are more than employers and employees. We are a family. Our senior staff handpicks all employees and train them in work ethics and cultural sensitivity. We believe that every employee has his/her own story that needs to be aligned with the companies culture. Our people are the driving force behind our success.
Furthermore, we believe in professionalism in everything we do. The experience behind our plans and operating activities are tremendous. We have a highly skilled task force as well as well as loads of experience across the board. In addition to applying a strict philosophy of what we call the „JR way“ – which basically stands for TRUST – trustworhy, responsibility, understanding the client, speed and teamwork.
With JR, it’s quite simple, we believe in people and processes, and that the customer is king, queen and the holy grail.
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What does opening an office in Europe mean for the Group JR Global itself? And what does it mean to the country?
For the corporate it basically means expanding exponentialy and jump starting project „Europe“. In effects, it shows ambition in several distinctive ways:
- Human resources, as Europe has a highskilled and knowledgable labour force with native English speakers and quality work ethics and premium customer service.
- Western European countries are the new market to penetrate. We believe that this is a start of a new business approach. Lets just say that we’re thrilled.
- For the countries that we enter as a Group it means new proficient work places, competitive workforce, quality culture, better standards of living. We do things the „JR way“ which allouds to disrupting the market with quality standards.
- What’s one thing you have learned as you’ve built JR Services?
Understanding procedures and creating a system of values is more important then individual quality of employees. In addition, entrusting people to do their jobs without micromanaging but focusing on outcomes becomes worthwile in the long run. I’m not saying you should not monitor them, of course you should, but don’t interrupt their work if they’re doing the job well, even if it’s not your way.
- What are your thoughts on the “customer is king” statement?
We don’t believe in just customer care, we believe in „customer obsession“. At JR Services we are devoted to proving customer satisfaction at every need. It’s not a cliché we talk about, it is in the core of our business. We do understand that sometimes we need to educate our clients on new technologies and systems but, at the end of the day, it’s the customer that pays our bills.
5. What do you do for your customers that is not required or expected of you?
When you work with JR there’s a different set of rules you apply. So our interior standard of quality customer service doesn’t match with what you experience every day in a restaurant or a local hardware store. We strive to always go the extra mile. It’s understanding the client and the process, doing your job professionally but always leaving an extra space to solve problems. That’s the extra mile – we are problem solvers.
- Lastly, what are some trends you’re seeing in the BPO industry these days? Anything we should be on the lookout for in the next 5 years?
Well, it becomes that technology and social media are changing the landscape in which we work so as to becoming a regular tool for adapting to business needs. This year, business process outsourcing has changed, evolved and grown, and 2022 is already rapidly approaching.
Social media is becoming ever stronger in the BPO sector with clients choosing to opt for social media communication instead of e mails as well as private communication tools such as Viber and Whatsapp. It’s what we call omnichannel communication now. In addition, AI and machine learning are present in helping customers as well as partners make the right choices and adapting their procedures.
Geography is adapting as well, going from East to West, mostly due to language proficiency barriers and easiness of entrusting corporate culture. 2020-21 has been a roller coaster of an economic year, and startups are at risk in the future. BPO offers startups an affordable way to execute all operations without wasting any time, money, energy, or resources.
Lastly, transparency and cyber security is crucial for trust and maintaining quality service. We at JR are highly aware of the imporatance of quality control and focus with the utmost detail on maintaining all our networks and databases secure.
BPO is all about trust. And that’s the JR Way.