2021 Conveyancing Leaders Forum: Sympli
To bring you the best insights into the Conveyancing industry in 2022 we’ve started an annual Conveyancing Leaders Forum, a series of interviews with leaders from governing bodies and leading tech firms from across the industry.
Participating this year is: Philip Joyce, CEO, Sympli; Joan Lentini, President, AICVIC; Chris Tyler, CEO, AICNSW; Matt Dunn, General Manager – Advocacy, Guidance and Governance, Queensland Law Society; and our own Taylah Allen, CEO, triSearch.
In this week’s Leaders Forum, we interview Philip Joyce. He reflects on the hurdles and successes Sympli faced throughout 2021 with connecting to the four major Australian banks.
Speaking of 2022, he advised that an important factor for conveyancers to action will be to harness growing digital tools better to allow more time for customer-orientated tasks.
Q: How was 2021 for Sympli and the conveyancing industry?
Philip Joyce: We think of it as a landmark year for us as a business. We have had massive milestones of delivery across our connections to banks.
We’ve had major milestones across our platform and have grown over 100 people since we’ve moved office.
So, in that context, it’s been a great year, and I’m proud of the fact that the team have done all this throughout COVID-19 lockdowns and the broader environment that has challenged everyone.
That’s also how I think 2021 has been for the conveyancing industry more broadly. Dealing with record volume in a challenged world.
People will look back on 2021 with a great deal of pride from navigating the complexities and helping their customers. I’m sure some of those lessons from this year will play a big part in the future.
Overall, it was a big landmark year for Sympli and for the industry itself.
Q: What were the main highlights and challenges of 2021?
PJ: For Sympli to support conveyances and their customers we need to connect to the major banks, but it hasn’t been easy.
It was a longer journey as a business than we ever envisaged. But in a couple of weeks (late 2021), we’ll have completed all major bank connections.
That gives us the reach to support conveyances across the nation, so we’re really pleased by that. It’s a massive highlight but has also been a huge challenge.
Another highlight is the people we have at Sympli. I’ve got pride in the amazing team at Sympli to deliver what have.
We’ve grown the team, but we’ve also lost some team members, which I think like most businesses, has been a real challenge that we’re still working through.
Businesses are thinking about how they have an engaging proposition, how do they empower, attract, and grow the team in a new world.
The last challenge is interoperability. The ability for a conveyancer to subscribe to their ELNO of choice. Seeing the mandated timeframe from the regulators has been a massive highlight.
But it has also been a huge challenge of work for all of us.
Q: What will be the immediate focus for conveyancers in 2022?
PJ: By leveraging how this year has been, a big focus in the year ahead will be to harness the activity in the market.
It’s still reasonably uncertain economically what’s going to play out, so a big focus will be on helping their customers in the market as it stands today.
I also think harnessing digital tools will be an important focus point. How can businesses be run more efficiently? How can you spend more time with your customers?
I think that’ll be a big focus. And I think COVID has really highlighted that. There are ways and best practices that give conveyancers more time to run their business, so I think that’ll be a big focus.
Q: What trends do you predict for the conveyancing industry in the next 12 months?
PJ: The macro theme is the quest for efficiency. Conveyancers want to know how to enable and empower themselves to give exceptional service to more customers.
It’s a competitive market which is good and there’s lots of innovation happening.
Which means finding ways to maximise the time they can spend on the part of the business that they wish to spend time on, which is helping customers.
I believe the quest for efficiency will be a big trend in the industry and we’ll see more and more innovation throughout the year.
Q: What is the most important advice you have for conveyancers for consideration in 2022?
PJ: One area where I would share advice to the conveyancing community would be the importance of growing your knowledge in the topic of interoperability.
We’re all about delivering a competitive market and delivering choice for customers. Choice leads to innovation, which leads to value, which leads to better outcomes for customers.
That is accelerated when there’s a groundswell of engagement into the topic. If you’re not sure what interoperability is and what it means for you, start engaging in the topic.
The more that conveyances can have a voice in the topic, the more it will drive better outcomes.
Ultimately, we’re all here to support conveyancers, so I think more engagement from the community will ultimately benefit conveyancers and their customers.
Read what other trends the leaders outlined in the 2021 Conveyancing Leaders Forum by downloading your free The Conveyancing Handbook: A guide to success in 2022 now.
