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Digital revolution ‘advancing productivity’ in law firms
The head of GlobalX has shed light on the flow-on effects the COVID-19 pandemic has bestowed upon the legal professional, including the greater uptick in utilisation of digital solutions, and what it might mean for the business of law going forward.
Emma Musgrave
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Speaking on a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, GlobalX chief executive Peter Maloney spoke to host Jerome Doraisamy about how he’s seen his own business change off the back of the pandemic and how this change is being felt across the profession.
“GlobalX is a legal technology business. We focus on developing workflow solutions and all of the work we do is for lawyers and conveyancers. So we’ve got a strong flair and a great degree of expertise in property. And so we supply practice management solutions, we supply digital solutions, and we also are one of the largest suppliers of data and information in Australia for lawyers and conveyancers,” Mr Maloney said.
“Look, our business has been pretty resilient through COVID. It does seem like a long time ago since March, but we outlaid a three-step program for our staff pretty much starting from the middle of March.
“The first one was to really, to understand the pandemic and what impact it was going to have through, or have an impact on GlobalX. Then we set about a second stage, which was, ‘How do we look through COVID?’ So how do we really understand that the pandemic is finite, and how do we want to come out of it? And do we want to look different coming out of it? And then we really, really focused with our staff on that third stage, which is, ‘Well, how do we get there? And what are the things we need to put into place now to help us get there?’
“I’ll give you a couple of examples. We’ve got a really strong verification of identity products in our business, and that’s called IDSecure. At the start of the pandemic that was largely driven by face-to-face interactions. By the first week of April, that then turned into a virtual verification of identity solution, all digital, no human interaction required. And it just proved a real winner for customers. The volume that has gone through that solution is now something like 30 times more than the face-to-face solution.”
The increased uptick in law firms utilising various technology services and platforms is not surprising to Mr Maloney, though he noted that it’s something he hopes to see continue, rather than die off post-pandemic.
“I certainly hope that the new normal is here now. I certainly hope that we don’t go back to March the first and the way things were. It sort of seems to be ridiculous, but to think all the digital or electronic signatures that are flowing through Australian documents and instruments would now go back to print to sign,” he said.
“I certainly think the government had injected a lot of interventions into the work that Australians do to make Australia flow more seamlessly and more digitally with lower human touch.
“We’ve certainly seen that throughout solutions set at GlobalX. So we’ve seen virtual VOI run away. I kind of remember for three years our sales team talking to customers about a digital signage solution that we have called SignMe and it did pretty well, but it wasn’t until middle to late March that suddenly it had something like a 700 per cent growth rate on it as customers suddenly said, ‘Well, I don’t have a printer at home’. And this is one of the great things that has happened with the legal profession over the course of, since the start of the pandemic is that there’s this mass workforce that were carrying their computers and the printers down Collins Street or George Street, or Edwards Street. And they didn’t have those tools at home.
“So this digital revolution that’s going on, I think is certainly advancing the productivity in law firms. And for me, I hope it’s the new norm. I hope it stays forever.”
To listen to the full episode featuring GlobalX’s Peter Maloney, click on the link below.
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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