A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for enterprise technology leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the CIOApplications Editorial Board.
J&T Express México
Expediting Product Deliveries through Regulatory Compliances
In an interview with CIO Applications, Castaneda sheds light on some of the challenges prevailing in the legal technology arena and how organizations can turn these challenges into opportunities.
Can you walk us through your key roles and responsibilities as the legal director?
As the legal head, my role broadly entails taking care of all the legal matters and proceedings associated with the company. I lead a team with attorneys in our headquarters and other lawyers working at multiple locations within the country. We conduct training for the entire organization to make the employees aware of several compliance policies, which are very important for all international companies to comply with international/local regulations.
My key responsibilities when leading the legal team can be split into several areas. The first involves supporting several areas, including sales department with the agreements with clients—ecommerce companies. The review of the agreements and dealing with negotiations is very important for any company.
We also need to support other areas such as our marketing team’s initiatives focused on establishing the brand.. To this end, legal team need to help the marketing department by reviewing various brand marketing and promotional materials.
Apart from these, it is important to support human resources department by managing the legal aspects involved in the recruitment and retention of employees. Presently, there are various new regulations that apply to employees in Mexico. The Mexican Congress is planning to amend the labor law, which we need to adhere to once passed.
What, according to you, are some of the challenges that the legal technology space faces today?
The predominant challenge for companies in Mexico is the slow government processes that involve multiple steps. Companies need to submit extensive documentation to comply with their internal objectives as well as adhere to the regulations and procedures of the Mexican government.
Mexico is one of the developing nations where e-commerce is growing at an unprecedented speed to emerge as the go-to option for consumers. We see numerous customers ordering products and making a purchase through the internet, which stands as opportunity for companies like J&T Express México to thrive. However, what creates a challenging situation is that consumers expect their ordered products to be delivered as soon as possible but disregard the extensive backend work with numerous steps involved.
We specialize in working behind the scenes to get the product delivered from the U.S., China, or any part of the world including domestic service Mexico as soon as possible, right to customers’ doorstep
What are the projects you are working on and the technological and process elements you have leveraged to make your project successful?
IT department needs to work within tight timelines in order to uphold the company standards before the clients and, at the same time, fulfill the requirements of the Mexican government. Having the best software to integrate with clients’ systems and keep a tab on customers’ order details are indispensable for our processes to run seamlessly. It is necessary to have a detailed plan chalked out to minimize the time taken for order processing and delivery.
What is your sage advice for industry veterans and fellow peers in the legal technology industry?
The legal team needs to work like a business partner for its organization. It needs to make quick decisions and try to mitigate all the risks associated with the business. While profit remains the ultimate focus for any company, it also needs to have a strong team of legal professionals to operate in accordance with local and international government regulations and company policies.
