InfoTrack presents Cultivate 2019 – complimentary seminars to grow your practice.
Today, InfoTrack presented Cultivate 2019 at the ICC Sydney. As the first of three complimentary growth seminars, Cultivate 2019 is designed to help lawyers and conveyancers think differently and focus on ways they can increase efficiencies and make their firm more productive, opening up opportunities for growth.
InfoTrack CEO, John Ahern opened the seminar encouraging the delegates to focus on new and different innovative ways to grow.
“If you take away anything from today, think about the one big thing that can substantially improve your life and go back to your office and tell everyone.”
Keynote speaker, Dr Catherine Ball, shared the next industrial revolution – Industry 5.0. She explained that this is not an era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and drones will take over human jobs. In fact, Industry 5.0 is coming to counteract the fear that AI will overtake humans and replace them “We need humans,” Dr Ball said, “to come up with analogue solutions to digital problems.”
Here, Dr Ball used the example of Buzz Aldrin using the inside of a felt tip pen to activate a broken circuit breaker. Machines need humans to problem solve.
“It’s all well and good to have smart systems, but if you can’t open them up and find out how they work and understand how they do what they do, you can’t fix mistakes.”
Trying something new and making a change in your business can be hard and time consuming. Dr Ball noted, “Unless you are ahead of the game, you’re 10 years behind.”
The Eventful Group’s, 2019 Legal Innovation Report found that 48% of Australian firms surveyed expressed their biggest challenge to driving innovation internally was ‘getting enough time and resources away from business as usual’ to make a change.
Firms are looking for ways to implement new business strategies and find new revenue streams to set themselves apart and boost profitability.
In the industry expert panel discussion, the panellists shared their opinions regarding keeping up with the rate of change. Top tips included:
- “Your role is as the trusted human advisor. We need to analyse the data machines give us and make recommendations to our clients, which is why we are important. Technology is here to support us; it can’t take over.” - Emanuel Oros, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
- “Relationships are more important than technology. Our strategy needs to change. We use data to actively report, but it’s the real feedback from clients that help us grow.” – Carl Bezuidenhout, BDO
- “Technology helps to automate manual processing tasks, so it reduces the time administrative tasks take plus the cost. It also reduces the risk of data entry errors. However, with Generation Z starting in the workforce, loyalty and the power of referrals is only achieved through positive client experiences.” – Ian Marshall, Macquarie Bank
- “Don't just focus on technology that can save you time.Focus on technology that can help you grow your service offering.Free up your talented people from administrative tasks so that they can focus on innovating and evolving your service.” – John Ahern, InfoTrack
As Dr Ball wrapped up, she left the audience with an inspiring message, “When you’re trying something new, don’t give up. If you feel like you’re on to something that will work for your firm to create more efficiencies and enhance productivity, don’t stop. Think about why you’re doing what you’re doing.”
As soon as the event closed, attendees were sharing their feedback. In our post event survey, of those who responded, 100% said they would recommend the complimentary seminar to their colleagues and all said they ‘walked away with practical tips to grow their firm.’
