Peta Stewart is a Certified Practising Conveyancer and winner of The 2018 Australian Institute of Conveyancer's President Award. She sat down with Perfect Portal to share her insights into e-conveyancing and the importance of using integrated systems to maximise efficiency.
What was your biggest challenge in making the move to e-conveyancing?
Within the business, the transition was relatively straightforward. However, I found the biggest challenge was ensuring my clients were well educated around the reasons and benefits for the change so they felt e-conveyancing was safe and reliable.
During the transition, I allocated a lot of time and resources to the education of my clients so that they would understand that although we were shifting to a more digital process, they still would have a client-centric experience and it was a safe platform for their property assets.
What advice would you give practitioners who are hesitant to transition?
All the hard work around client/public education, testing, procedures etc has already been done. It has never been easier to make the transition.
If you are not yet transacting in e-conveyancing you are not only unable to provide best practice to your clients but you are also limiting your client market. Your business will always be one step behind your competitors and that is a dangerously reactive space to be in.
What do you think is the most common misconception about e-conveyancing?
Safety. There was a public misconception that e-conveyancing would have more risk of fraud than paper transactions. This could not be further from the truth. There is a large volume of resources, statistics and information readily available now to demonstrate the superior safety features with e-conveyancing.
What has been the greatest benefit of e-conveyancing for your firm?
The core values of my business include reliability, competence and integrity. E-conveyancing supports those values which then ingrains my clients trust into the service I provide. I am able to provide the safest, most efficient and most reliable service to my clients with e-conveyancing and as a result, the client feels empowered, safe and extremely satisfied.
