Enterprises enter software golden age – interview with Katarzyna Cebulska – Bajera

Katarzyna Cebulska-Bajera, the President of Mellon Poland, has been recognised on the list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and has several years of experience in the new technologies sector. Currently, she is responsible for the overall management of a company that supplies specialised technological solutions and outsourcing services. In June 2017, Katarzyna Cebulska-Bajera received the award of “Business Cheetah 2016” from Instytut Europejskiego Biznesu (the Institute of European Business) for the growth of the company's value by 21.8%. During the conference “Contact Center World Awards EMEA 2017” in London, Mellon Poland received the Golden Statuette for the “Best Outbound Campaign” and the Silver Statuette for “Outsourcing Partnership”. - Katarzyna Cebulska – Bajera, the President of Mellon Poland, Business Tiger 2017.

Kamila Czyżyk, Pro Progressio: “Recognition among 50 Most Powerful Women in Business”, “Business Cheetah 2016”, and “Business Tiger 2017” awarded by Pro Progressio Foundation, closed the year 2017 with a series of successes. On behalf of the Pro Progression team, I would like to congratulate you and take this opportunity to ask you the following question – if you were to go back to the very beginning of your career, the first day in your first job, is there anything you would do differently from today's perspective?

Katarzyna Cebulska – Bajera: Thank you for your congratulations. Awards and rewards always confirm that the decisions I have made are considered positive by the market and encourage me to continue advancing forward in a highly demanding business environment. However, please remember that behind every Leader's success is a team that he/she managed to build and without this team, 2017 would not have been so good.

If someone asked me on my first day at work, how I would see myself in several years’ time, I would not have been able to answer their question. The only resolution I had at that time was to not be afraid of challenges and to not say “no” just because no one in the organisations, in which I had the opportunity to work, had ever done it before. I obviously couldn’t avoid making mistakes, however I have always approached them as lessons, from which I draw knowledge on what not to do in the future.

Looking back, I would have not changed anything about my actions, without which I would not be professionally in the place where I am today.

When talking about the beginning, how did it all start? What made you commit permanently to the new technologies sector?

It was accidental, and Dell was a company with a very effective training system for people from outside the IT environment, and most importantly, in my career history I encountered people with passion, who were keen to share knowledge and convince you that modern technologies was something – without which the world after the year 2000 – would not be able to exist.

The dynamic changes in this sector keep you on your toes, requires you to constantly improve upon your knowledge, and it is really difficult to fall into a routine in such an environment. It is something that drives me every day.

And what is presently the greatest challenge on the Polish market with respect to this sector?

In recent years, there has been a continuous trend of departing from holding assets to using services. Changes in the way businesses operate are reflected in the processes inside the organisation, human resources, and IT systems that support business management. The type of technology offered to companies is totally unlike the solutions sold not more than five years ago. Technologies for enterprises have been developing at a dizzying pace and this growth will definitely not slow down in 2018. On the contrary – it will pick up pace.

There are no doubts that today is the golden era for enterprise software solutions. The IT market for business has never had such a high level of innovation and advancement as it does now. The continuous development of technologies has changed the perception of business software. Both clients (users) and providers of IT systems look with enthusiasm towards new innovations emerging on the market, which are becoming simpler to implement and improve business processes more effectively. Organisations that have initiated a change towards a new economy of services earlier, using the smart applications that are available, will have a chance to get ahead of competitors.

The most successful will be those who deliver what the client wants – faster and more efficiently than the competitors. Enterprises that wish to develop and prosper have to adapt to this trend and this is currently the biggest challenge in this sector.

Mellon Polska has been on the Polish market since 2006, but the company's headquarters are located in Athens. Is the Greek Call Contact Center market comparable to the situation in Poland?

ANSWER: Mellon, which is the international group that operates in 12 countries, is standardised in terms of the scope of services that we can provide to our clients. With respect to the systems that support us in the execution of contracts, there are no differences. This certainly sets us apart from the competition. Our development in both countries is stable. In terms of potential, the Polish market is obviously larger than the Greek one, which corresponds proportionally to the Group's expectations towards Mellon Poland.

For many years, you have been delivering solutions designed for Call Contact Centers. What is the biggest trend at the moment and the most interesting technological solution in this sector?

In the race for new call center contracts, the winners are those who offer dedicated solutions to their clients, tailored to their individual needs, based on multi-channel communication and mobile devices. Already today, a multi-channel contact with clients and diversification of the methods to reach a client – is the strongest technological trend in the sector. Its source lies in the changing needs of consumers, who in daily communications not only use telephones, but also such tools as e-mail, chat or Skype. It is a standard that Mellon Poland can deliver to our clients within the systems offered in the Polish market (Altitude uCI).

This year's number one in trends and creating future scenarios in the customer service area is the Virtual Assistant.

It is said to be the future of customer service, a way to meet growing expectations of clients, solve increasing challenges in recruitment, as well as provide information in a fast and effective way. Concurrently, it poses a job risk for call center agents; it lacks empathy, ... it is not a human.

I would like to thank you very much for the interview and wish you every success.

The Business Tigers List is a subjective rating of Pro Progressio Foundation. Each of the listed Business Tigers is recommended as an expert in business relation building. The complete list of Pro Progressio Business Tigers is available in the Pro Progressio 2017 Annual Report: https://goo.gl/Vm1E3g

Kamila Czyżyk