To commemorate the Company’s 15-year anniversary, NetRefer’s C-Level and Heads step onto the stage in a docuseries entitled ‘Walk & Talk with Team NetRefer’. We take a candid look at NetRefer’s inner workings through the eyes of the Company’s leaders.
In our first entry, we meet Jacqueline Backman, CPO (Chief Productivity Officer) at NetRefer. Jackey takes to Spazju Kreativ – Malta’s leading centre for creative arts, theatre, and film – located in the heart of Valletta, Malta.
In part 1 of 3, she takes us through the Company’s recent rebrand, its milestone anniversary and much more.
NetRefer has been going through some important milestones in the last couple of years. You’ve launched a new website, you’re celebrating a 15-year anniversary. You’ve also tweaked the corporate identity and introduced a new tag line – Clear, Fair, Trusted. Can you elaborate?
This goes beyond a tweak from the inside out. Rather, it was really time for us to identify with our future – with who we are and where we want to go. And the tagline is more a representation of our core values. And looking at what we’ve accomplished in the past, providing clear interactions – internally and externally, inside-out, we always practice fairness. And of course, in so doing, being recognized in the industry as the most, or if not, one of the most trusted suppliers of performance marketing software.
As we look at our future, we ask ourselves what really is important to us as an organisation. And that’s what we’re taking with us. So, we’ve redefined ourselves and taken those values – Clear, Fair, Trusted – and adopted them as our seal or badge of quality.
The company has just reached its 15th years mark in the industry. The corporate video released in celebration of this is very optimistic and has a forward-looking bend to it. It includes the interesting messages – “Question things. Challenge the industry. Shake the foundations” – very big statements. What does it mean for the on-the-ground operations in the years to come?
This doesn’t mean that we want to revolutionise the world or anything like that. What we’re implying is that we got to look at what we can do better and what we need to do to be the best that we can as an organisation.
An organisation is made of people, of human beings. So, we ask ourselves how we can support the talent that comes in by ensuring their success – our internal talent, our team, or our family. Once we set our team up for success, they will drive this business’ success as a side-effect, as a consequence of that. In turn, we’re able to help our clients be successful, because the bottom line is if they’re successful, we’re successful. If they’re not successful, we’re not successful. So, that’s really our definition of “just doing better”.
The video closes with two powerful messages; “See things clearly. Do things differently”. What does this mean in tangible terms and how is it applied?
Those two sentences have become our modus operandi. Their origins can be traced to when I started this journey with Raphael Arnold, our group CEO and visionary. He’s always known what he wants to do – something different and better – what is needed in order for us to do better and get to the next milestone.
When it comes to organisations or individuals, you have to be able to have a very honest and real look at what’s actually happening. So, he and I, with our team of course, were pushing through to see things clearly, what is actually going on, how is this actually working, what are really the benefits, what are the paying points, what are the difficulties, what are the challenges. And then, of course, by doing that, we’re able to do things differently.
You know there’s the expression that says “if you want something to change, you have to change.” And the bottom line is this: if you’re doing things clearly and seeing them clearly, the likelihood that you’re going to take the same approach in execution (as you did before) is probably going to be slim to none.
This has become how we do things and how we approach new things in the future. Something comes our way, we want to see it clearly, we want to understand it. And then, we apply new methodologies or old methodologies – whatever is going to work to get ourselves there. We see things clearly, do things differently.
Is it correct to say that this has been a period of introspection in order to understand the processes at a fundamental level and evolve them for the next period of the company’s life?
Exactly. Even with regard to the future and for an external perspective, we don’t necessarily need to conform to what the rest of the world is doing and what everybody else is doing. We are just going to do what we truly believe in our heart, and based on all the observational data and evidence, is the best thing to do for the organisation, for our clients, and for our team. And so, if It means doing something that doesn’t necessarily conform, we’re ok with that – we’re good.
Watch the 2nd installment of Jackey’s 3-part interview here to learn about her professional background and her current role at NetRefer.
A special thank you goes out to Andrew Bonello for conducting the interview.