Consulting Magazine - November 2017

Since its beginning as a one- man consulting firm in 1953, J. J. Keller has grown to become one of the most respected name in safety and compliance. Serving over 600,000 customers—including 90 percent of the Fortune 1000—the firm provides compliance and safety solutions and services businesses needs. Steve Murray, Sr. Director, sat down with Consulting to discuss the firm’s financial performance.

Consulting: What were the main factors that contributed to your firm’s growth? Murray: About five years ago we embarked on a journey to transition our business from being a static regulatory resource for our clients, to becoming a partner and mentor in the quest to implement industry-leading safety and compliance programs. Our clients have overwhelmingly responded to this change by engaging our teams in ways that enable them to not only meet regulatory requirements, but enable them to take significant strides in keeping their people safe every day. We have facilitated this growth by adding some of the industry's best and brightest consultants to our staff.

Consulting: How is this year shaping up for your firm?

Murray: This year we are expe-
riencing a tremendous amount of
growth. We are up significantly in
our Workplace Safety Practice as
demand has grown for new services
that we have introduced, as well
as new regulations rolled out by
OSHA. Our Transportation Services
businesses is where we've seen the
greatest growth at J. J. Keller, pre-
dominantly driven by the FMCSA's
mandated Electronic Logging De-
vice rule that goes into enforcement
effect in December this year.

Consulting: How would you describe your firm’s outlook for 2018? Where do you see the most opportunities? Murray: We expect to see fewer significant federal government regulations implemented from the Trump administration. However, due to the late implementation of the ELD mandate from the DOT, we expect the first half of the year to be quite demanding as our clients begin to deal with and respond to the new challenges associated with this regulation.

Consulting: What would you say are your firm’s biggest challenges in 2018?

Murray: Like many fast-growing
firms, one of our biggest challeng-
es next year will be our ability
to adapt our business model and
structure to meet the significant
changes we're seeing in the mar-
ketplace. The growth and disrup-
tion of mobile technology to busi-
nesses not only provides challeng-
es, but opportunities for us to find
new and creative ways to deliver
our products and services in ways
that meet the changing purchasing
habits of our clients.

Consulting: What does being named one of Consulting’s Fastest Growing Firms mean to your firm, your employees and your clients?

Murray: For the 3rd consecutive year J. J. Keller's Consulting team has been recognized as a Fastest Growing Firm. We have some of the brightest and hardest working safety & compliance experts in the industry. We would not have accomplished this without the commitment and fortitude of our staff to deliver consistently outstanding service to our clients.