Calvi Heroes: Joost Smits

About Joost

“My name is Joost Smits and I started working at Calvi in 2007. I’ve been married to my amazing wife for 16 years now, and we have two kids. We live in Empel, a village near Den Bosch. I grew up in Deest, which is a small village in “the land of Maas and Waal” (a rural area in the south of the Netherlands). I’ve always had a passion for sports and used to do Judo on an international level in my younger years. Unfortunately, I had to quit because my knees couldn’t handle it anymore and I started playing golf. I love the pressure of the game because you are continuously fighting against yourself and trying to improve. Besides that, I can also really enjoy the calm and quiet that comes with being outdoors.”

“Aside from my sports-based hobbies, I am also really into watches. I’m especially interested in the technology behind such a small and yet simple mechanism that tells the time. The technique behind a watch differs per timepiece, which makes them unique and collectible.”

How did you end up at Calvi?

“I started studying in Nijmegen and eventually ended up in Haarlem to study Small Business Management. When I obtained my degree, I started working in the security industry and had very diverse roles within one company. During my time at this security firm, I got a chance to study at Neyenrode Business University and that's when I met the CEO of Calvi. The first time I met Leo (Calvi's CEO) was very memorable and I was immediately convinced that working at Calvi would be a great opportunity to grow for me. I initially started out as a member of the Sales team, together with our current CCO and Calvi's co-founder, Humphry Peeters. Back then, our focus was still on the Large Enterprise market, but a few years later we decided that the core problem of the challenges surrounding the telecom bill lied directly with the CSPs. Our focus shifted and we started facilitating our first CSP customers. As time passed, my responsibilities grew, and we felt that our organization could benefit from a Chief Operating Officer. I was ready to take on the challenge and have been happy with the choice I made ever since.”

“As COO, I am responsible for all operational duties at Calvi. After a contract is signed, it’s my team’s responsibility to ensure that everything runs smoothly.  After we implement our solution, it is important that we support our customers as efficiently as possible. To summarize, I’m responsible for managing all operational activities within our organization.”

What are the challenges you face as COO?

“Being COO gives me the opportunity to support the personal growth of all employees. What gives me energy is seeing employees develop and grow within our organization. One of the challenges I face is to create a workplace with the right people and to ensure that everyone has a job that fits their personality and skills. With Calvi being a rapidly expanding organization, I’m not only responsible for growth in terms of the number of employees, but also in terms of our product. Our Sales team works hard to generate new business and it’s my job to ensure that everything is going well behind the scenes. I believe that this is a challenge that every fast-growing organization faces and that’s something that makes my job very exciting and diverse. What I like most about my job is my leadership role and being able to work with all the different teams within our organization.”
 

Why do you think that CSPs should choose Calvi?

“Calvi's solution tackles all problems surrounding the bill and drastically improves Customer Experience. Our main goal is to understand, process, and manage data, and we want the bill to be hassle-free and easy to handle for all customers, be it consumers or large enterprises. We see the bill as one of the most crucial components in the customer relationship. As experts in the field of Bill Communication, we know what a customer wants and advise them on the best way to go. We take them on a complete digital journey and help them turn their bill into an asset.”

“Our expertise is what makes us unique, but our revolutionary solution and dedicated team of professionals are what allows us to thrive.”

How do you see the development of Bill Communication in the future?

“CSPs have gone through many changes over the years, and currently find themselves in a new digital era. We see new trends evolving and this goes at a rapid pace. Because of the rapid changes in the industry, I believe that personalization is becoming increasingly important. Ultimately it is Calvi's job to make it as easy as possible for the end-user to analyze, pay, and process their bill. The bill is a legal requirement, but a lot of questions surrounding the bill can be solved at an earlier stage. I believe that this can be improved with the use of personalization. This means CSPs must take their customers by the hand and support them through the process of doing business with them, be it by informing or assisting them when necessary.”

What is your personal motto?

“At the beginning of this year, I traveled to Uganda with my son to work as a volunteer. During my stay in Uganda, I came to realize that we should live in the here and now and not worry too much about yesterday or tomorrow.”

“Living in the now”

“I realized that we all think about the past and what we want in the future. Our society is very pre-occupied thinking about what’s to come. In Uganda, people wear their emotions on their sleeve, and they seem much more positive. Maybe we should just enjoy the here and now a little bit more.”

Calvi in three words:

“Progressive, Directing Engaged”

“I believe that we are an engaged organization to work with, as we always pursue long-term relationships. By being engaged, we are very capable of giving direction to our vision on the future and we work hard to uncover the challenges a CSP faces. Calvi is on top of its game and very progressive in achieving its goals.”

A workplace that you love isn't easy to come by. Are you interested in becoming part of our amazing team? Check out our career page to see whether we have an application open that fits you, or send us an unsolicited application.