Every year The Australian’s John Durie asks some of the biggest names in Australian business five key questions about what’s coming in the year ahead.
Here is what Deloitte’s Richard Deutsch sees ahead in 2020.
Read more from the CEO Survey.
How is your company affected by low-interest rates and what is needed to boost the economy?
Low-interest rates and the accompanying lower Australian dollar help Deloitte in a number of ways. For example, keeping the M&A market – where we are key advisers – ticking over. While there’s a case for government policy to do more, it’s important to remember it involves trade-offs which haven’t been well understood in the current debate. government needs to keep an eye on doing what it can do strategically to keep the economy ticking, confidence up and jobs and incomes growing while not losing the ability to act should it need to, particularly as a result of external forces.
What is the impact of government regulations on your company, including those applying to the financial sector?
As a business that is heavily regulated, we always encourage the implementation of smart, evidence-based policies and regulation, supported by well-resourced agencies. There is a natural tension between enabling business to innovate and protecting the investing public and consumers. The challenge for government is to find a balance between both. In financial services, 2020 will see even more change as the ramifications from the Hayne Royal Commission work their way through. Everyone will need to lean in to make sure that small business and consumers have the necessary access to capital to support the economy, while robustly fixing issues that were surfaced.
What percentage of company revenues are spent on research and development, and how is your company using technology to improve performance?
Deloitte Australia commits more than 5 per cent of revenue, investing funds in a variety of ways with a significant focus on developing new capabilities and technologies to better serve our clients’ evolving needs. Technology is embedded across our entire business, improving both our clients’ and our own performance. In particular, we’re focusing on an increasing range of use cases for robotic process automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Technology is at the core of one of our key strategic goals: leading professional services in Industry 4.0.
What are the three major policy issues facing the country and what should be done about them?
● Productivity should be our first priority. Both sides of politics need to reinvigorate the national debate on reforms that lift productivity by better embracing new technologies and the related skilling, as well as taking on federal/state reform and pricing and regulating our infrastructure better.
● Addressing the critical challenge of lowering the emissions intensity of our economy. Policy needs to mitigate risk while seizing new opportunities for growth and jobs – in light of the science, the changing preferences of consumers (domestic and global), the regulatory environment that businesses are increasingly facing and our global commitments.
● Driving innovation and the adoption of new technologies embodied in AI, robotics, etc. in a way which dispels the fear which exists in business and the community on this topic.
Getting this right, along with new debates on privacy, security, and the ethics surrounding this will help the productivity agenda raised in question 1.
What are the major impediments to long-term growth facing your company and what can or is being done about them?
The environment currently facing business and government is complex and constantly changing. This means regulatory scrutiny, rapid technology changes, increasing consumer
and citizen expectations and challenging economic conditions. All of this means our clients need expert advice and support with changes to their businesses or in their delivery of services. The conditions for long term growth for professional services are therefore positive – for the firms which are able to provide the services that meet client needs. The challenge for our business is to make sure we are both expert and leading-edge, agile and client-focused. We will need to have a flexible workforce and invest in the right technologies to support our people.
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