Partner interview with Ali Osman Özdilek, CEO of JURCOM, the Netherlands

In this partner interview, we’ll meet Ali Osman Özdilek, CEO of JURCOM in the Netherlands, as he shares his wealth of experience in the Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) sector.

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your firm

I am Ali Osman Özdilek, the founder of Jurcom, a subsidiary of Akhadia Holding. With over 25 years of experience in the GRC area, I feel privileged to run and manage startups and innovative companies, combining deep global regulatory knowledge with technology. I hold a PhD in Public Law, and my memberships include the Geneva Dispute Board Federation, IAPP, European Law Institute, European Lift Association, and pioneer domestic law and compliance associations.

Our mothership brand, Jurcom, is a global GRC services organization that acts as a multifunctional interface between companies and complex regulations space to ensure governance, risk, and compliance superiority. Jurcom is a Netherlands-based company. We also have offices in the UK, Germany, and Turkey. We cover 30 jurisdictions worldwide with our comprehensive services and products portfolio. Leading companies of different industries rely on our experience and knowledge for compliance perfection and risk minimization.

How long has your company been in the industry, and what services do you specialize in?

Jurcom has been delivering innovative products and services worldwide for over five years. We specialize in main GRC areas, including data protection, climate, the EU digital world, finance, the US Export Regime, and ethics. We deliver extensive services in compliance projects, regulatory audits, risk assessment, ongoing consultancy, and training. We have a solid partner ecosystem consisting of leading global companies in their areas.

What big changes are you seeing organisations make in their approach to whistleblowing?

Whistleblowing as a mechanism for identifying fraud and unethical behaviour within the organizations continued to gain importance since the EU Directive on the protection of whistleblowers entered into force in 2019.

We observe that companies understand the importance of being compliant to these directives to encourage reporting without fear. Organisations started to rely on platforms like Whistlelink to manage whistleblowing professionally since whistleblowers should be able to submit their reports anonymously either in writing via an online system, a mailbox or by post and/or orally via a telephone hotline or answering machine system.

They take actions like confidential reporting, conducting investigations, and tracking issues closely for ensuring compliance. More initiatives are being taken in terms of building a more ethical corporate culture. Companies refine their internal protocols for receiving, investigating, and responding to whistleblower reports and integrate whistleblowing to their corporate governance systems. Corporate encouragement increases for reporting unethical actions and behaviours globally.

Do you believe an EU wide whistleblowing law will bring broader benefits to organisations or society as a whole?

An EU wide whistleblowing regulation will obviously increase the attention to this very critical ethics subject.

The legal clarity will make it easy for organisations to comply with the whistleblowing principles. It will create consistency across the industries and actions to be taken will be more precise. It will increase the protection level on whistleblowers fostering a safer environment for individuals to report concerns without fear of reprisals. A more ethical corporate culture will be emphasized and trust in institutions will be empowered.  A uniform regulation can also reduce regulatory fragmentation and simplify compliance for organizations.

The EU wide whistleblowing law will also facilitate cross-border cooperation to ensure a continent-wide harmonization.

Do you think EU wide whistleblowing law will also have an impact on other jurisdictions besides EU? Should we expect similar regulations in other countries?

Yes, since the ethics is a global subject, we expect similar regulations in different parts of the world. We may see some content differences due to the local law specifications, but EU’s regulation will surely affect other areas.

We saw this kind of effect when GDPR was first introduced, many countries used GDPR as an example to construct and announce their local data privacy laws. In terms of whistleblowing, we also expect to see similar regulations in different parts of the world soon.

What challenges do organisations face regarding whistleblower protection, and how does your company address these challenges?

Compared to other GRC topics, whistleblowing is a new concept for many organisations.

Firstly, we help companies understand the framework of the EU Directive. With our experience in global regulation consultancy, we assist them in building the right strategy and actions. We support them on the management and technical sides to build a solid system regarding whistleblowing.

We do this especially cooperating with the leading whistleblowing platform Whistlelink. We combine our practical GRC knowledge with Whistlelink’s expertise and ensure the foundation of a sustainable whistleblowing system for our clients.          

What motivated you to collaborate with Whistlelink?

As Jurcom, we feel privileged to have a solid partner ecosystem consisting of pioneer companies in their specialties.

Whistlelink is one of the global partners we are so proud of cooperating with. Jurcom always aimed to create “first-in-the-industry” initiatives, and we saw that Whistlelink had also that revolutionary approach in their profession. Both companies emphasize technology, and this fact instantly made us speak the same language. We are looking forward to creating more fruitful projects soon.

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