Ursula M. Burns, the chief executive of Xerox, declared on Monday that the company’s plan to buy Affiliated Computer Services, an outsourcing services company, for $6.4 billion would be “a game-changer” for Xerox.
That could be standard business hyperbole, of course, and only time will tell whether the deal proves to be a winner for Xerox. But the game is indeed changing for big technology suppliers catering to corporate customers as they shift to depend less on products and more on services.
And technology companies, like Xerox, are often buying services companies to accelerate the transition. Only last week, for example, Dell announced that it would buy Perot Systems for $3.9 billion. Last year, Hewlett-Packard bought another large technology services company, Electronic Data Systems, for $13.9 billion.
The shift to services is being fueled by financial and strategic considerations and by the evolution of technology itself. Services businesses tend to be steadier sources of revenue and profit than product businesses, which are more susceptible to peaks and valleys of economic cycles. Services businesses also foster closer relations with corporate customers and often yield higher profit margins.
The cost and complexity of computing, analysts say, has led many corporate customers to conclude that owning and operating their own hardware and software is an expensive, distracting burden. So customers are pressing suppliers to not just sell them technology but to make it work for them to streamline business tasks like procurement, customer tracking, record handling and product design.
“For a lot of these companies, there is a real blurring between what is a product and what is a service,” said Christine Ferrusi Ross, an analyst at Forrester Research. “The concept of what a product company is anymore really has to be rethought.”
Xerox and other technology companies that are expanding their reach in services are following a model that I.B.M. pursued more than a decade ago and General Electric even earlier.
They recognized that to compete in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, companies needed to move into higher-value services, which are less vulnerable than product businesses to being undercut by low-cost manufacturers abroad.
Technology advances are making it easier for suppliers to provide computing as a service, delivered over the Internet from remote data centers in the so-called cloud computing model. Software can move off desktop personal computers to become a Web-based service, like Google’s e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets, and the online customer-relationship management software of Salesforce.com.
The digitization of all kinds of business records and documents also opens the door to automating business tasks and mining business data for everything from customer-service problems to sales opportunities.
The share of corporate technology budgets spent on hardware and software, which are capital expenditures, has been declining in recent years. That percentage fell to 28 percent this year, from 36 percent in 2004, according to estimates from Gartner, a research firm. The rest is spent on operational expenses, including services.
The trend is not a matter of rising labor costs at corporate technology departments, because headcounts have not increased, said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president in charge of research at Gartner.
“The shift toward external services is quite pronounced,” Mr. Sondergaard said.
Analysts say the weak economy promises to accelerate the tilt toward spending on services as companies resist bigger capital budgets or adding workers to their payrolls.
In an interview, Ms. Burns said the Affiliated Computer deal was largely a matter of following her customers. “They want us to intelligently knit together all this stuff — the information that makes their businesses run,” said Ms. Burns, who took over in July with the retirement of Anne M. Mulcahy.
Xerox said that the combined company would have $22 billion in revenue and that nearly 80 percent of that total would be recurring revenue based on services and equipment contracts. The company’s services business would triple, to $10 billion.
In an interview, Lynn Blodgett, chief executive of Affiliated Computer, said that his company would certainly benefit from tapping into the Xerox worldwide sales force. But he also emphasized that it would benefit from the Xerox research in imaging and text-recognition technology. Affiliated Computer handles and processes back-office documents like loan-processing papers for banks and Medicaid claims for health care providers and states.
Xerox, Mr. Blodgett said, has technology that can begin to scan patient claims, for example, searching for patterns in the data that could suggest the best therapies for managing chronic diseases like diabetes. “It allows you to look at claims and reach conclusions,” he said. “It’s technology we just don’t have.”
The Xerox cash-and-stock offer was valued at $63.11 a share, based on the closing price of Xerox shares on Friday. Shares of Affiliated Computer, which closed at $47.25 on Friday, rose 14 percent on Monday, to $53.86. Xerox shares fell 14 percent, to $7.68.
Affiliated Computer, based in Dallas, was founded in 1988 to handle data-processing chores for banks and has grown steadily since. Today it has $6.5 billion in revenue and 74,000 employees.
Indeed, the company is sizable, with 20,000 more employees than Xerox, and analysts say the challenge of integrating the two companies may have contributed to the fall in Xerox shares. “Xerox has not done a lot of big merger deals, so one concern is that A.C.S. may not be easily digestible,” said Peter Falvey, managing director of Revolution Partners, a small investment bank that specializes in technology companies.
Affiliated Computer has also been a subject of inquiries by the Securities and Exchange Commission and grand jury proceedings in recent years, focusing on stock option grants and the accuracy of some customer records. The inquiries and repeated changes of chief executives and chief financial officers over the last five years prompted Disclosure Insight, an independent research firm, to rate the company a high risk. There are no current investigations, said Kevin Lightfoot, a spokesman for Affiliated Computer. “It’s all been put behind us,” he said.
Analysts say other services companies that might be takeover candidates in the wake of the Xerox-Affiliated Computer deal include Computer Sciences Corporation, CGI in Canada and a few Indian outsourcing companies like WNS and Patni. Several of the largest remaining independent technology services companies like Accenture or the leading Indian outsourcers like TCS, Infosys and Wipro, analysts say, are probably too costly and unwilling to be acquired.
“The merger trend isn’t over, but you are running out of companies that are small enough to reasonably acquire and yet large enough to make a difference,” said Rod Bourgeois, an analyst at Bernstein Research.
30/9/09
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Chinese buyers fuel top-end property boom
NICK Johnstone is a man on a mission. Next week, the Brighton estate agent will fly to Shanghai with the aim of selling 30 of Melbourne's most expensive homes to Chinese buyers.
It will be the first time a Melbourne agency has attended the China International Luxury Property Show, but it is just one example of a phenomenon that has transformed Australia's residential market.
''Australia is the flavour of the month amongst the Chinese investors,'' Mr Johnstone, 41, said yesterday. ''They love property and there's plenty of money over there so they're good clients to have.''
While Chinese buyers have fuelled the top-end real estate revival, they are also courting controversy, with some local house hunters complaining they are being priced out by foreigners who have no intention of living in their new properties.
A few critics go further, arguing Chinese money is now putting upwards pressure on interest rates.
But you will not catch Mr Johnstone of J. P. Dixon complaining. He has made at least 40 per cent of sales this year to the Chinese. Other agents in the east and south-eastern suburbs have reported the same level of demand.
''We've had several buy properties sight unseen, just over the internet and phone.'' Mr Johnstone said. ''A lady from Shanghai, whose son goes to Wesley College, bought four houses in Brighton from us in two months, worth $20 million.
''They buy them to land bank, not to rent them out. The houses just sit vacant because they are after the capital growth.''
The floodgates opened on foreign investment in March when the Federal Government relaxed its rules on property ownership.
The changes made it easier for foreign companies and temporary residents, such as 12-month business visa holders, foreign students, and their parents, to invest.
Last month, Treasurer Wayne Swan announced a further relaxation of Australia's foreign investment screening to ''help boost Australia's growth''.
But the big spend-up is being fuelled by more than just Australian policy change.
Armadale entrepreneur Barry Jan, who runs property shopping tours from China to Australia, said the Communist Party had had an about-face on citizens investing their wealth overseas. ''People are investing now in case they can't get their money out later,'' he said.
Kew property adviser Monique Wakelin said many Chinese had come to see Australian property as a stable hedge against global economic tumult and the potential devaluation of the yuan.
''They are looking for avenues to protect at least part of their wealth, and A-grade Melbourne residential property fits the bill.'' The confluence of events has seen Chinese money inflating prices for top-end homes by at least 10 per cent in a matter of months, according to Boroondara agent James Connell from Marshall White.
''Chinese people have effectively kick-started our economy and underpinned all our housing values in inner Melbourne,'' he said.
Keen to cash in on the boom, Marshall White, J. P. Dixon and other big agencies such as Jellis Craig are hastily establishing connections with offshore accounts, lawyers and businessmen to funnel a stream of buyers into Melbourne.
Also in hot demand are Mandarin-speaking Melbourne real estate agents and property lawyers.
Meanwhile, Australia's largest developers - including Australand, Central Equity, Simonds, Becton - are setting up offices in China and Hong Kong to spruik off-the-plan developments.
And an industry of ''Australian property and migration'' exhibitions has burgeoned in the cities and mining towns, such as Taiyuan, attracting hundreds of people.
Yet all the evidence put forward about the property revolution is so far anecdotal because there is no measure being kept on the amount of investment by temporary residents in residential property.
The Government's March law change abolished mandatory reporting of such acquisitions in a bid to ''enhance flexibility in the market''.
What is certain is that in the past financial year before the change, foreign investment in Australian residential property increased by a third to $20.4 billion from the year before. Victoria attracted 21 per cent of that investment, according to the Foreign Investment Review Board's annual report released last month.
MARIKA DOBBIN
September 19, 2009
The Age
It will be the first time a Melbourne agency has attended the China International Luxury Property Show, but it is just one example of a phenomenon that has transformed Australia's residential market.
''Australia is the flavour of the month amongst the Chinese investors,'' Mr Johnstone, 41, said yesterday. ''They love property and there's plenty of money over there so they're good clients to have.''
While Chinese buyers have fuelled the top-end real estate revival, they are also courting controversy, with some local house hunters complaining they are being priced out by foreigners who have no intention of living in their new properties.
A few critics go further, arguing Chinese money is now putting upwards pressure on interest rates.
But you will not catch Mr Johnstone of J. P. Dixon complaining. He has made at least 40 per cent of sales this year to the Chinese. Other agents in the east and south-eastern suburbs have reported the same level of demand.
''We've had several buy properties sight unseen, just over the internet and phone.'' Mr Johnstone said. ''A lady from Shanghai, whose son goes to Wesley College, bought four houses in Brighton from us in two months, worth $20 million.
''They buy them to land bank, not to rent them out. The houses just sit vacant because they are after the capital growth.''
The floodgates opened on foreign investment in March when the Federal Government relaxed its rules on property ownership.
The changes made it easier for foreign companies and temporary residents, such as 12-month business visa holders, foreign students, and their parents, to invest.
Last month, Treasurer Wayne Swan announced a further relaxation of Australia's foreign investment screening to ''help boost Australia's growth''.
But the big spend-up is being fuelled by more than just Australian policy change.
Armadale entrepreneur Barry Jan, who runs property shopping tours from China to Australia, said the Communist Party had had an about-face on citizens investing their wealth overseas. ''People are investing now in case they can't get their money out later,'' he said.
Kew property adviser Monique Wakelin said many Chinese had come to see Australian property as a stable hedge against global economic tumult and the potential devaluation of the yuan.
''They are looking for avenues to protect at least part of their wealth, and A-grade Melbourne residential property fits the bill.'' The confluence of events has seen Chinese money inflating prices for top-end homes by at least 10 per cent in a matter of months, according to Boroondara agent James Connell from Marshall White.
''Chinese people have effectively kick-started our economy and underpinned all our housing values in inner Melbourne,'' he said.
Keen to cash in on the boom, Marshall White, J. P. Dixon and other big agencies such as Jellis Craig are hastily establishing connections with offshore accounts, lawyers and businessmen to funnel a stream of buyers into Melbourne.
Also in hot demand are Mandarin-speaking Melbourne real estate agents and property lawyers.
Meanwhile, Australia's largest developers - including Australand, Central Equity, Simonds, Becton - are setting up offices in China and Hong Kong to spruik off-the-plan developments.
And an industry of ''Australian property and migration'' exhibitions has burgeoned in the cities and mining towns, such as Taiyuan, attracting hundreds of people.
Yet all the evidence put forward about the property revolution is so far anecdotal because there is no measure being kept on the amount of investment by temporary residents in residential property.
The Government's March law change abolished mandatory reporting of such acquisitions in a bid to ''enhance flexibility in the market''.
What is certain is that in the past financial year before the change, foreign investment in Australian residential property increased by a third to $20.4 billion from the year before. Victoria attracted 21 per cent of that investment, according to the Foreign Investment Review Board's annual report released last month.
MARIKA DOBBIN
September 19, 2009
The Age
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Plan to reduce mortgage expenses
Karen Dearne | September 15, 2009 | The Australian
THE long-awaited National Electronic Conveyancing System could save lenders up to $46 million in mortgage settlement costs a year, the LIXI Industry Forum heard last week.
After years of political wrangling, the NSW, Victorian and Queensland governments have begun talks aimed at forming a company to run the proposed real estate exchange platform.
The platform will be based on data standards developed by the Lending Industry XML Initiative (LIXI) for online processing of property transactions such as home loan applications, approvals and conveyancing.
LIXI chief executive Erik Fenna said a survey of members on the costs of settlement and the benefit of electronic integration -- assuming NECS was completed and had full take-up -- identified cost savings to lenders of about 15 per cent.
"There would also be benefits for consumers, but we weren't looking to measure that at this stage," he said.
"This is never going to happen if lenders don't buy into it, and they won't unless they see a benefit for themselves."
Survey participants estimated that the average cost to lenders to settle a mortgage with a large bank was about $450, and using an electronic system would reduce that cost by about $68.
"Across the industry, that represents $46 million in the past financial year, so there is substantial money to be saved," Mr Fenna said.
While LIXI has no role to play in the design or operation of NECS, LIXI members -- banks, credit unions, brokers, mortgage aggregators, insurers and solicitors -- were insisting on a single national data standard for the system.
"They've made it abundantly clear that there can only be one standard for communication and integration with the settlement platform," he said.
"NECS has approached us, and we will be working together on that."
Mr Fenna said LIXI might also become involved in the development of standards for processes normally considered internal to banks.
"Banks are surprisingly similar in what they do, from a core platform perspective," he said. "Their competitive advantage is in their products, the interest rates they can offer and quality of service.
"But where banking systems are talking to external systems, or where banking systems are modular and use contracted outside resources, then standards become very valuable."
While banks can get a first-mover advantage through custom-building systems to provide new products and services, "the drawback comes down the track when you go to rebuild them, and find you have a load of customised things that you then need to maintain".
Banks now saw competitive advantage in being first to market with mobile banking platforms, for instance.
"In our view, mobile banking is becoming a commodity, and the interface between mobile and transactional banking platforms could be standardised," Mr Fenna said.
THE long-awaited National Electronic Conveyancing System could save lenders up to $46 million in mortgage settlement costs a year, the LIXI Industry Forum heard last week.
After years of political wrangling, the NSW, Victorian and Queensland governments have begun talks aimed at forming a company to run the proposed real estate exchange platform.
The platform will be based on data standards developed by the Lending Industry XML Initiative (LIXI) for online processing of property transactions such as home loan applications, approvals and conveyancing.
LIXI chief executive Erik Fenna said a survey of members on the costs of settlement and the benefit of electronic integration -- assuming NECS was completed and had full take-up -- identified cost savings to lenders of about 15 per cent.
"There would also be benefits for consumers, but we weren't looking to measure that at this stage," he said.
"This is never going to happen if lenders don't buy into it, and they won't unless they see a benefit for themselves."
Survey participants estimated that the average cost to lenders to settle a mortgage with a large bank was about $450, and using an electronic system would reduce that cost by about $68.
"Across the industry, that represents $46 million in the past financial year, so there is substantial money to be saved," Mr Fenna said.
While LIXI has no role to play in the design or operation of NECS, LIXI members -- banks, credit unions, brokers, mortgage aggregators, insurers and solicitors -- were insisting on a single national data standard for the system.
"They've made it abundantly clear that there can only be one standard for communication and integration with the settlement platform," he said.
"NECS has approached us, and we will be working together on that."
Mr Fenna said LIXI might also become involved in the development of standards for processes normally considered internal to banks.
"Banks are surprisingly similar in what they do, from a core platform perspective," he said. "Their competitive advantage is in their products, the interest rates they can offer and quality of service.
"But where banking systems are talking to external systems, or where banking systems are modular and use contracted outside resources, then standards become very valuable."
While banks can get a first-mover advantage through custom-building systems to provide new products and services, "the drawback comes down the track when you go to rebuild them, and find you have a load of customised things that you then need to maintain".
Banks now saw competitive advantage in being first to market with mobile banking platforms, for instance.
"In our view, mobile banking is becoming a commodity, and the interface between mobile and transactional banking platforms could be standardised," Mr Fenna said.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Jobs go at Westpac due to St George merger
By George Lekakis | Herald Sun | September 04, 2009
WESTPAC has sent hundreds of employees packing this year as the group pushes ahead on the merger of back-office systems and technology platforms with its newly acquired St George subsidiary.
Finance Sector Union national secretary Leon Carter told The Herald Sun that at least 600 jobs had been made redundant, mostly in NSW in document processing and other administrative areas, and that thousands more jobs were on the line as Westpac advanced the integration of mortgage processing, accounts management and a host of other business functions.
Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly has signalled on several occasions this year that back-office jobs would be cut from the group as the integration program was implemented, The Herald Sun reports.
Mr Carter said the union had sought assurances from Westpac that no roles would be axed at the mortgage processing centre in Adelaide and a call centre in Launceston, but the bank had not responded.
"The bank has refused to give us any such assurances on these jobs," he said. "We are very concerned about the security of those jobs in Launceston and Adelaide."
Your Say
I worked for St George and won a $50 dragon dollar cheque, when I left, they would not honour the check, and that was personally given to me by Antion (the big cheese) I don't ...
(Read More)
Mike Williams of Sydney
Bank spokesman David Lording confirmed that redundancies had occurred this year, but said the union had overstated the number.
However, he would not say how many staff had been made redundant. "It's smaller than that (600)," he said. "We think the union may have misinterpreted data that we have provided them."
Mr Carter stood by the 600 redundancies figure, saying that most of the affected staff had left the bank.
"It's not a good look for a bank that makes a multi-billion dollar profit," he said.
"One of the frustrations we've got with them is they won't tell us what the timetable is for the integration program which we can see will bring more pain for our members."
Westpac has confirmed publicly that it is exploring options to relocate some processing activities to offshore providers in India as part of the integration.
Mr Lording said the bank had hired frontline customer service staff this year.
"We've put on over 500 bankers during the course of the year and while we have made some adjustments to back-office roles we have no across-the-board job reductions at Westpac," he said.
"We've had no head-count reduction targets."
The staff cuts at Westpac come at a sensitive time for the union and the bank following the expiry of a three-year industrial agreement in June.
Negotiations between the parties on a new deal are scheduled to begin in October, but could be complicated by potential industrial disputes over redundancies.
The St George subsidiary this week embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign across Australia with its senior management claiming that it would open up to 20 new branches in the next 12 months.
However, a St George spokesman would not say whether the network would be increased by that number on a net basis after also confirming that "some existing branches would be relocated".
"We've conducted a review of our branches and found that some could be in better locations," the St George spokesman said.
WESTPAC has sent hundreds of employees packing this year as the group pushes ahead on the merger of back-office systems and technology platforms with its newly acquired St George subsidiary.
Finance Sector Union national secretary Leon Carter told The Herald Sun that at least 600 jobs had been made redundant, mostly in NSW in document processing and other administrative areas, and that thousands more jobs were on the line as Westpac advanced the integration of mortgage processing, accounts management and a host of other business functions.
Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly has signalled on several occasions this year that back-office jobs would be cut from the group as the integration program was implemented, The Herald Sun reports.
Mr Carter said the union had sought assurances from Westpac that no roles would be axed at the mortgage processing centre in Adelaide and a call centre in Launceston, but the bank had not responded.
"The bank has refused to give us any such assurances on these jobs," he said. "We are very concerned about the security of those jobs in Launceston and Adelaide."
Your Say
I worked for St George and won a $50 dragon dollar cheque, when I left, they would not honour the check, and that was personally given to me by Antion (the big cheese) I don't ...
(Read More)
Mike Williams of Sydney
Bank spokesman David Lording confirmed that redundancies had occurred this year, but said the union had overstated the number.
However, he would not say how many staff had been made redundant. "It's smaller than that (600)," he said. "We think the union may have misinterpreted data that we have provided them."
Mr Carter stood by the 600 redundancies figure, saying that most of the affected staff had left the bank.
"It's not a good look for a bank that makes a multi-billion dollar profit," he said.
"One of the frustrations we've got with them is they won't tell us what the timetable is for the integration program which we can see will bring more pain for our members."
Westpac has confirmed publicly that it is exploring options to relocate some processing activities to offshore providers in India as part of the integration.
Mr Lording said the bank had hired frontline customer service staff this year.
"We've put on over 500 bankers during the course of the year and while we have made some adjustments to back-office roles we have no across-the-board job reductions at Westpac," he said.
"We've had no head-count reduction targets."
The staff cuts at Westpac come at a sensitive time for the union and the bank following the expiry of a three-year industrial agreement in June.
Negotiations between the parties on a new deal are scheduled to begin in October, but could be complicated by potential industrial disputes over redundancies.
The St George subsidiary this week embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign across Australia with its senior management claiming that it would open up to 20 new branches in the next 12 months.
However, a St George spokesman would not say whether the network would be increased by that number on a net basis after also confirming that "some existing branches would be relocated".
"We've conducted a review of our branches and found that some could be in better locations," the St George spokesman said.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Talks begin on national e-conveyancing system
Chris Merritt | September 04, 2009 the auztralian
THREE state governments have opened talks with lawyers and bankers aimed at establishing a company to run the long-promised national electronic conveyancing system.
The proposed company would be owned initially by the governments of NSW, Victoria and Queensland but those close to the talks say equity would later be offered to other jurisdictions.
Senior officials representing the three founding equity holders have distributed documents outlining the proposed corporate structure.
The company's board would consist of representatives of each of the three state governments as well as representatives of the legal profession, the major banks and non-lawyer conveyancers. An independent board member would be appointed to chair the new organisation.
If the talks succeed, it could help all state governments qualify for $550 million in commonwealth funding for undertaking 27 major reforms that have been endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments.
The national e-conveyancing system is not a priority under the COAG agreement, but its successful completion would help persuade the federal government to make the $550m reward payments to the states.
NSW Land Minister Tony Kelly, who helped drive the latest initiative, said his government supported "a truly national scheme that all stakeholders can access and use easily, wherever they might be, whatever state they might be in".
"The system will work best only if all the states come on board, which is why we have been working closely with the other states, in particular Victoria and Queensland, to make this happen," he said.
"To realise savings to industry participants and the community, it is essential that the system be integrated with the systems and standards used by the lending and conveyancing industries today."
Mr Kelly said technology had provided an opportunity to modernise "one of the most traditional, most basic transactions at the core of both business and family life, so it is important to get it right".
"To do that, we have to bring along all the industry peak bodies to ensure that the lawyers and bankers are secure enough with the system and its governance arrangements that they encourage their members to use it.
"This would mark a huge technology shift in conveyancing business practices and processes but I think there is the collective will to make that shift.
"Certainly the technology is here but it has to be cost-effective and it has to meet industry requirements," Mr Kelly said.
The initiative by the three states comes soon after Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Deregulation Minister Craig Emerson rejected a plea for $20m in federal funding to establish the e-conveyancing company.
Les Taylor, who chairs the steering committee that has been planning the new system, had warned that unless the company is established, there is a risk that the savings from the project will be "lost for at least a generation".
Those savings have been estimated by industry groups to be worth $250m annually.
THREE state governments have opened talks with lawyers and bankers aimed at establishing a company to run the long-promised national electronic conveyancing system.
The proposed company would be owned initially by the governments of NSW, Victoria and Queensland but those close to the talks say equity would later be offered to other jurisdictions.
Senior officials representing the three founding equity holders have distributed documents outlining the proposed corporate structure.
The company's board would consist of representatives of each of the three state governments as well as representatives of the legal profession, the major banks and non-lawyer conveyancers. An independent board member would be appointed to chair the new organisation.
If the talks succeed, it could help all state governments qualify for $550 million in commonwealth funding for undertaking 27 major reforms that have been endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments.
The national e-conveyancing system is not a priority under the COAG agreement, but its successful completion would help persuade the federal government to make the $550m reward payments to the states.
NSW Land Minister Tony Kelly, who helped drive the latest initiative, said his government supported "a truly national scheme that all stakeholders can access and use easily, wherever they might be, whatever state they might be in".
"The system will work best only if all the states come on board, which is why we have been working closely with the other states, in particular Victoria and Queensland, to make this happen," he said.
"To realise savings to industry participants and the community, it is essential that the system be integrated with the systems and standards used by the lending and conveyancing industries today."
Mr Kelly said technology had provided an opportunity to modernise "one of the most traditional, most basic transactions at the core of both business and family life, so it is important to get it right".
"To do that, we have to bring along all the industry peak bodies to ensure that the lawyers and bankers are secure enough with the system and its governance arrangements that they encourage their members to use it.
"This would mark a huge technology shift in conveyancing business practices and processes but I think there is the collective will to make that shift.
"Certainly the technology is here but it has to be cost-effective and it has to meet industry requirements," Mr Kelly said.
The initiative by the three states comes soon after Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Deregulation Minister Craig Emerson rejected a plea for $20m in federal funding to establish the e-conveyancing company.
Les Taylor, who chairs the steering committee that has been planning the new system, had warned that unless the company is established, there is a risk that the savings from the project will be "lost for at least a generation".
Those savings have been estimated by industry groups to be worth $250m annually.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
