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Finding ‘efficient, effective and impactful’ ways of working key for firms
It is imperative that Australian law firms strike the right balance between maintaining successful business operations and adapting to evolving client needs and expectations, say GlobalX and Mills Oakley.
Jerome Doraisamy
It is widely accepted that the professional marketplace will not see a complete reversion to pre-pandemic conditions – as such, GlobalX CEO Peter Maloney says, Australian businesses have to face up to a “new reality”.
This said, while the ongoing pandemic gives rise to a bevy of challenges for businesses across the board – including those in the legal and technology sectors – COVID-19 also poses “immediate opportunities to design new and improved future business strategies to ensure sustainability” once the pandemic has passed, Mr Maloney stressed.
“Maintaining organisational resilience and the health and wellbeing of employees must remain at the forefront as firms navigate transformational change and future business model planning,” he said.
“Building a resilient and adaptive organisation and workforce will see firms not only survive the crisis but underpin their ability to see them operate and cope to reach unrivalled levels of performance well after COVID-19.”
The law firm clients of today, Mr Maloney continued, are “better informed and connected than ever before”. This necessarily means, he surmised, that firms will have to reshape their business models to respond to changing consumer needs, and in most cases, exceed them.
“Focusing on and accelerating investment in technology transformation, operations and customers will be crucial for all firms to deliver efficient, effective and impactful new ways of working into the future,” he advised.
“The legal profession has already shown its strength in these areas and enacted plans to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions for customers to support them during the crisis – a delicate balancing act between keeping business operations as usual and ensuring customers are supported in more ways than ever before.
“We know there will continue to be challenges which lie ahead, but for those firms and businesses that adapt, can and will still thrive.”
Mills Oakley chief HR office Diana Dawid agreed, saying that leading clients into the “new normal” is fundamentally important for firms that are currently focused on adapting their business strategies and ensuring overall readiness for the post-pandemic landscape.
“As firms enter the recovery phase in the post-pandemic environment, motivating and leading people into the [new normal] will require empathy, flexibility and a ‘[ready-for-anything]’ attitude to ensure they continue to go from strength to strength,” she said.
“Leaders will need to embrace remote working conditions, flexible working arrangements and to accept that the way of working and methods employees use to stay productive has been altered indefinitely.”
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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