Thought Leadership Archives

Cultivating strong culture and a high-performance organisation

June 14, 2024

Cultivating strong culture and a high-performance organisation At SettleIT, we recently had the pleasure of hosting an insightful webinar, “Cultivating strong culture and a high-performance organisation.” This event featured two esteemed professionals: Dom Meli and Hollia Lam. Meet the speakers Hollia Lam is the founder of successful law firm, Lamco, specialising in corporate, commercial, and property law. Before establishing her firm, Hollia managed debt capital market transactions in Hong Kong, honing her skills in high-pressure situations and complex legal issues. Her current practice in Australia focuses on assisting foreign individuals and companies with expanding their operations, particularly in navigating the Australian property market. Dom Meli brings extensive experience from senior human resources and industrial relations roles in both public and corporate sectors, including positions at BHP and the Ambulance Service of NSW. With over two decades of experience, Dom has managed disputes, negotiated employee agreements, and led performance improvement and change programs. He is now a trusted advisor and consultant, helping organisations develop and deploy sustainable improvement strategies. Key webinar insights The webinar began with the broad question: “What does a high-performance organisation look like today?” Dom Meli emphasised that many organisations feel they are not meeting their goals despite their efforts. However, he identified several key characteristics of high-performing

Embracing change: ARNECC interoperability mandate for 2025

February 29, 2024

Embracing change: ARNECC interoperability mandate for 2025 The commitment to evolving property conveyancing in Australia has seen a huge shift in the way the industry operates. In recent years, the mandates brought to the industry have sparked substantial progress, ushering a transition from manual processes to streamlined electronic workflows. At the forefront of this evolution are the voices of practitioners themselves. They have not only asked for change but necessitated it. This blog explores how the industry is leading the charge in responding to the needs and demands of its practitioners, driving forward progress and innovation in the pursuit of greater efficiency and effectiveness. Recently, the Australian Registrars’ National Electronic Conveyancing Council (ARNECC) made a significant announcement, setting forth a mandate for full interoperability among electronic lodgment network operators (ELNOs) in New South Wales and Queensland by December 31, 2025. Interoperability empowers key stakeholders, including conveyancers, lawyers, and financial institutions, to have autonomy in the decision-making process. By seamlessly engaging with a platform of their choice, practitioners gain the ability to shape their experience, ensuring that the platform works for them rather than imposing rigid structures upon them. This directive from ARNECC marks the dawn of a new era, one

Real Estate activity is rising, how is your firm keeping up?

December 22, 2020

Real estate activity is rising, how is your firm keeping up? Recent adjustments to stamp duty across NSW and Victoria aim to kickstart the economy and Real Estate Agents, property lawyers and conveyancers will benefit. In Victoria, stamp duty will be slashed up to 50%, but this will only apply to newly built homes up to the value of $1 million and will be available until June 2021. Alternatively, those in Victoria buying pre-existing homes can expect to receive a 25% discount, again up to $1 million. In NSW, stamp duty reforms are still underway with final decisions being announced in March, but under the current proposal, home buyers will be able to choose if they would prefer to pay stamp duty or an ongoing annual land tax. It is hoped that these changes will bring people back into the property market, which suffered heavily during the height of COVID-19. There has also been reported growth in the number of properties coming into the market now consumer confidence has recovered. Real Estate Agents are seeing an influx of requests for settlements to take place during the Christmas and New Year period as well as for interstate service as people look to move with remote working

Here’s why technology won’t take over your role

September 21, 2020

Here’s why technology won’t take over your role But it will give you capacity to do more with less resources. Recently, RMIT Online CEO Helen Souness shared her belief that many jobs of the future have one thing in common: Technology. “Automation and augmentation are one of the big technological trends,” Souness tells Together In Business. “They’re slightly scary words — people see drones or cyborgs working beside us — but actually automation is our friend. It takes away boring, repetitive tasks. The challenge with completing repetitive administration tasks is that mistakes can be made – especially when time is short. Technology won’t take over your role as a lawyer or conveyancer, but instead is here to support you to complete tasks quicker and with accuracy. In effect this gives you more time to grow your firm and develop stronger client relationships – something a robot will never be able to do. Think about the human skills you do have – negotiation and communication for example and allow technology to support you in the other aspects of running your firm. InfoTrack offers technologies that reduce administrative load. Integration between InfoTrack and your Practice Management System can transform your firm, reducing the need for repeat data

Say “Yes! I am open for business.” to your clients. Four solutions to maintain business as usual.

April 7, 2020

Say “Yes! I am open for business.” to your clients. Four solutions to maintain business as usual. Despite the current climate, you don’t need to put your processes on hold. Whether it be property settlements, verifying your client’s identity, signing important documents or keeping your sensitive information safe, you can say ‘Yes! I am open for business.” Here are four ways to maintain business as usual, in an environment when things certainly aren’t usual. Verify your client’s identity remotely, in lieu of face to face. Since COVID-19 and the necessity of working from home, as well as ARNECC’s updated verification of identity (VOI) recommendations, new VOI solutions are emerging almost daily. However, it is important to pay attention to what is being verified, whether official documents are checked against government records and if the security and privacy of your client’s data is guaranteed. InfoTrack’s remote VOI solution, InfoTrackID, ticks all these boxes. The Solution features four layers of identity verification smarts which are a first for the Australian legal industry. These layers of verification all work together to reduce identity fraud whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines and keeping clients safe. Amanda Spencer from Bridge Legal, an InfoTrack client, said “Once

Three ways you can remain productive and effective when working remotely

March 18, 2020

Three ways you can remain productive and effective when working remotely In the current climate, working from home or away from the office has become a necessity rather than simply making headway towards a flexible working arrangement. Now more than ever, the health and safety of people is leading the way. But even during times like these one big question remains; are we as equally productive at home as we are in the office? Do we get more or less work done working from the comfort of home? Some will argue they are more productive with less noise and interruptions, while others find tasks to complete around the home that distract them from work. So how do we combat this? Here are three tips and tools to ensure your firm can continue to work anywhere at any time, combatting that productivity lag. Think about how you communicate with staff and clients If you’ve been working from home for a while, there might be a sense of isolation from your team. It’s important to use tools beyond email and instant messaging that replicate the feeling of being together. Video programs like Zoom and Microsoft Teams are easy to use and allow

Top benefits of the sharing economy for your business

May 2, 2019

Top benefits of the sharing economy for your business A sharing economy is an economic system in which assets or services are shared efficiently. In May 2019, Forbes quoted a study by PWC predicting that the sharing economy is projected to grow from $15 billion in 2014 to $335 billion in 2025. Common recent examples of Airbnb, Uber, and Netflix show that the sharing economy offers the opportunity to mix up established industries and has the advantage of opening new revenue streams and reaching customers who might not have been interested in the company’s products or services beforehand.Sharing isn’t quite a new way of life but technology and ease of connections through the digital world have boosted accessibility and convenience offering the ability to seek things out and obtain them easily. In many ways, sharing is something we’ve always done, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. But now, with the sharing economy in the digital age, it may be the perfect opportunity to foster the growth of your business. What are the top benefits of the sharing economy for your business? 1. Get professional support on demand. Need It Today, but not tomorrow? General practitioners probably don’t need a full-time

Five sales tips for legal and conveyancing practitioners

April 5, 2019

Five sales tips for legal and conveyancing practitioners The perception of ‘sales’ from people not directly involved in sales tends to be that it’s a scary practice that they want to stay well clear of. Salespeople sometimes have a reputation of being pushy, overconfident and arrogant. However, today the most successful salespeople are trusted advisors to clients and potential clients. In an increasingly challenging property market, it’s important to look at ways to differentiate your firm and find ways of winning new business. Below are some sales tips that can help you or your firm win new business without coming across as pushy, arrogant or annoying. 1) Follow up every enquiry promptly. A great way of following up a telephone discussion or meeting with a potential client is to send them a follow-up email/ quote/ proposal promptly. This should articulate what you discussed, the services that you offering to them and why they should trust your firm to undertake this work. 2) Call to ask for the business. This doesn’t have to be pushy, you are purely asking them if they have any further questions and whether they are ready to proceed. 3) Listen to your client. A mistake even the most experienced salesperson falls

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