What Australia’s best managed companies share

Deloitte Best Managed Companies program shines a light on the firms driving innovation and growth across the country.

Winning companies have built resilience into their business models in the knowledge that future economic headwinds or other disruptive forces could emerge at any time.

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Eight successful private businesses have been recognised for their outstanding performance across four key pillars: strategy, culture, innovation and governance, winning Deloitte Australia’s 2022 Best Managed Companies awards.The firms which span industries from technology, transport, commercial construction to financial services and automotive sectors had to meet a rigorous and independent assessment process against an evaluation framework applied to a strong community of more than 1300 best managed private companies across the world.

The program is not only about recognising high-achieving companies but also offering them an opportunity to benchmark against global peers, access peer-to-peer learning and networking opportunities and be part of a global ecosystem of private companies.

Among the winners was legal technology firm, InfoTrack, a homegrown global leader in providing digitised data and services to lawyers and real estate agents.

Taking a gong for the third time at the Deloitte Best Managed Business awards, InfoTrack offers more than 4500 products such as identity verification, electronic signing, certificate searches and secure document exchange.

“We are very privileged to stand alongside the other companies, given their high quality across the board,” says InfoTrack’s country manager for Australia Brendan Smart.

Winners in 2019 and 2021, InfoTrack’s stocks were boosted during the pandemic, when legal digitisation went from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’, as lawyers and conveyancers transitioned to remote work.

In this difficult climate, InfoTrack was in pole position to assist clients with measures including Covid ‘care packages’ that combined products and resources with dedicated training.

Deloitte Private partner Natalie Faull said InfoTrack typifies the “dynamism, resilience and focus on growth” displayed by the Best Managed Company winners.

As Deloitte’s lead for the Best Managed Companies program, Faull says the pandemic “shifted the dial” for many businesses, “from recovering from supply disruptions to understanding and supporting new ways of working.”

And all the winners have been innovative by necessity.

Deloitte Private partner Natalie Faull

“This year we have seen further extensions of transformational digitisation projects as well as new digital projects, and involving their people every step of the way,” Faull says.

“They have all remained focused on digital transformation and how to use it as a competitive advantage and aligned to strategy, and not simply digitising for digitising’s sake.

“They’ve built resilience into their business models in the knowledge that future economic headwinds or other disruptive forces could emerge at any time,” she says.

While strategy has been a key factor in building company resilience in the face of adversity, winners understand that, while any management team can determine an organisation’s strategy, systems and processes, these intentions will be thwarted without the right people.

“Our winners ensure they have the right people in the right roles, and they believe in allowing their teams the autonomy to innovate, Faull says.

Faull also says that one of the key human resources actions that the Best Managed Company winners shared was a greater investment in employee wellbeing.

“Out of the pandemic, employee demands have clearly shifted toward wellbeing and flexibility, and a stronger focus on learning and development. Our winners are addressing these demands, they are ahead of the curve on this, and they are proud of their investments and achievements,” Faull says.

They are using workplace flexibility, talent development and both financial and non-financial rewards to not only retain their people, support diversity, and as an incentive to attract talent.”

Alongside employee wellbeing, understanding stakeholder expectations, particularly around governance has been key, Faull says.

“Last year we saw an increased focus on ESG within our winning best managed companies, and this has continued, with environmental, social and governance considerations seen as strategic drivers and differentiators. All the winners have sustainability projects in place, and have climate change and reducing their carbon footprints front of mind, regardless of the industry in which they operate,” Faull says.

“What we have seen is that as these organisations consider environmental sustainability as a key consideration of the investment decision for their innovation projects or programs.”

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This content was produced in association with Deloitte. Read our policy on commercial content here.

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