Humans of iQmetrix: Kelly Jardine, Client Experience

Welcome to the third of our Humans of iQmetrix mini-profiles, in which we chat with long-tenured iQer and self-described ​“small-town girl” Kelly Jardine.

Kelly — or ​“KJ” as she is often known — is Director in the Enterprise Client Experience team, and is based out of the Regina, Saskatchewan office. Her team lead Erin Hester describes Kelly as ​“friendly, inquisitive, caring, and supportive.” Here’s a bit more about who she is and what she does. 

iQmetrix: Tell us a bit about your role at iQmetrix, and how long you’ve been here.

KJ: I started at iQmetrix on January 4, 2012, and I’m now a Director in the Enterprise Client Experience team. Our team supports all our enterprise-level clients, and I dabble across various accounts, but I’m mostly heavily focused on one major client, which is a globally recognized telecom brand. I’m their direct point of contact for corporate to come to us for new initiatives they would like to take on, that would involve our clients who are this brand’s authorized retail operators. Since we power the point of sale and retail management solutions across the vast majority of this brand’s retailer channel, any big changes that corporate want to make would be done in collaboration with us. I have those conversations, and bring in the right stakeholders across the channels, and bring in a project manager to make it all happen. I also do a lot of work on return-on-investment analysis and making sure all the documentation is in place. But then I also get pulled into other client accounts, because working with this major client has made me an expert in specific initiatives and solutions, so I help support other clients who are implementing similar initiatives — such as buy online, pick-up in-store functionality, for example. Because I worked with an early adopter of that technology, I can walk other clients through how it works and how it will benefit them. 

My role today is very different than how I started in 2012, which was on the Support team, on the phones. I was taking support calls, answering email, answering the chats, and learning all about our products and services on the fly. I quickly became an expert in our products, out of necessity, and within about eight months I became a trainer for any newer support staff. My role morphed several times through the years, and I helped build various teams for different initiatives and clients, and then I had my daughter, Joey, in May 2021, before returning and moving into my current role.

How have you found the culture of working at iQmetrix?

What I’ve found is that if you are motivated to be amazing at your job, every day, good things will happen to you. If you work hard and you’re just crushing it, you can trust in the leadership to see that you’re able to take on more responsibility. Each time my role morphed, it was because I saw a gap and had the autonomy to step into that gap.

From a personal point of view: I can’t imagine working anywhere else, now. I hear all the time about the stuff people have to deal with from management in their jobs at other companies, and I’m so thankful that’s not how it is here. Plus, the people I work with have truly become some of my closest friends. Not only my iQmetrix colleagues, but also some of the clients, too — I’ve worked closely with some of them for a decade, which is longer than many of my immediate co-workers! 

What’s the story that got you to iQmetrix?

Well, after high school, the post-secondary education I started in was nursing, then I did a year in the eco-tourism industry. Then I went travelling for a year and lived all over — I learned German in Germany and did a bunch of random stuff! Then I was looking at what I had achieved, school-wise, and I realized I could crush out a degree in anthropology, so I did that, but I knew I wasn’t going to get a job in that field. 

During my degree I took part in a co-operative program with the Saskatchewan provincial government, in which I could work during the school year while also going to school. I was hired in that role as a student co-ordinator for the provincial government’s summer employment program, matching students with programs that would help their future careers. During that time, I met Nevin Danielson, who was my hiring manager for that co-op government role and he later joined iQmetrix, and was there for many years. We got to know each other well in the provincial government, and later, after he’d left, we stayed in touch. When I was graduating, I didn’t want to continue working in that role, and I had a chat with Nevin, who recommended coming over to iQmetrix. I graduated December 2011 and started work at iQmetrix in January 2012.

What’s something interesting that we might not know about you?

A couple of things. One fun fact is that I used to be a coal miner. I mean, an actual coal miner, shoveling coal down in the mines, with a light on my hard hat and everything! That was to earn money in the summer between school semesters. And then I worked at Sask Power, which is where the coal goes to make the power, and I was in there dealing with the coal and the clean-up. Totally blue collar!

If we’re talking personal passions… I’m a jock through and through. Anything related to team sports, I love. Baseball, volleyball, hockey — I played university hockey, and I played hockey overseas. Coaching had a big impact on me, too. My father passed away when I was quite young, so coaches were a major part of my life and acted as father figures when I was growing up. 

I have no desire to go to the gym, but give me a team sport, and I’m there!

Want to learn more about the Humans of iQmetrix? Follow the series on our blog or our Instagram page.