People might tell you that the most important thing you can do as an organization is to build a good product or to maximize shareholder value. These are obviously fundamental to a successful organization. However, in my experience, relationships are just as important—both within the company and with clients. If you build a healthy, positive corporate culture and draw from that to listen to and partner with your customers, it brings enormous rewards.
Unique Expertise
In my four years working at Katabat as a Project Manager, Scrum Master, and Relationship Executive, I’ve observed the effect that internal transformation can have on a culture, as well as, client relationships. We have an extraordinary team at Katabat that melds two different types of strength. On the one hand, our leadership is comprised largely of financial industry veterans who have a profound depth of understanding of our clients’ needs. On the other hand, as a software development company, we have an entrepreneurial contingent who are eager to innovate and adapt to the changing business environment.
It took some time to find the best way to meld the unique expertise of all the members of our organization to complement each other. As the saying goes, our team is “a whole greater than the sum of its parts.” But the benefits have been immediate and far-reaching.
Process-Driven Speed and Leadership
A big part of transforming our culture has been the shift to agile processes. The transition was a total shift in mindset that required buy-in from everyone involved and the investment of significant energy, effort, and discipline. The pay-off has been tremendous. We moved from a feeling of chaos and the illusion of control, to a position of confidence, flexibility, autonomy, and process-driven control. The transition has been beneficial both for efficiency and for improved work-life balance for the team. Our frequent and streamlined communication and collaboration results in far fewer last-minute fires to put out, which lends itself to happier team members!
Having a process that boosts employee satisfaction and morale is something that spills over from our culture to our relationships with clients. Our organization had a total rebirth and learned to face challenges head-on, and we learned to communicate more effectively in the process. Adaptability is one of our fundamental principles, enabling us to leverage agile in unique circumstances. This is appealing to our clients, some of whom—as large financial institutions—had heard about the appeal of agile but had not really understood how they could benefit while maintaining appropriate operational controls.
There’s a lot of synergy when you align Katabat’s unique industry expertise, culture, and agile methodology with our clients’ needs. In many cases, we’ve sat in our clients’ shoes and have a deep appreciation for the varied challenges they face and how best to overcome them. We understand their culture, and we move from a position of strength—our own positive culture—to support them and understand exactly what they are looking for. We strive to be a partner, not just a vendor, and to base all of our relationships on the expertise and swift, dependable results that will earn our clients’ trust.
Feel free to contact me anytime at bbreerwood.katabat.com to learn more about Katabat’s culture, solutions, and how the combination helps our clients transform their businesses.
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Katabat is the leading provider of debt collections software to banks, agencies, and alternative lenders. Founded in 2006 and led by a diverse team of lending executives and leading software engineers, Katabat pioneered digital collections and has led the industry ever since. It is our mission to provide the best credit collections software in the market and solve debt resolution from the perspectives of both lenders and borrowers.
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