It has certainly been a productive year for Realise Business as we moved forward with our three year strategic plan, restructured our Board, and redefined our service offering to meet the needs of our growing client-base.
Benefits of a new strategic direction
Through a new strategic direction, we’ve improved the depth of our advisory offering by tripling the number of Business Advisors in our team, allowing us to provide a more specialised advisory service to our clients.
We’ve also seen the business shift from being operationally focused to being more strategic, which has delivered new advisory contracts outside of our geographical area.
The ASBAS and Department of Transport Parramatta Light Rail contract win is a prime example of the benefits of our new strategy and testament to the work of CEO Jacqui Attard and the Realise team in their successful tender submission. These wins have led to a more stable financial position and it’s a step in the right direction to remain sustainably profitable by diversifying our business portfolio.
Continued growth
The growth trajectory of our business has reached new heights as we continue to implement strategies that benefit our customers and the wider community. Our success is reflected in our customer engagement and retention numbers that have nearly doubled over the past twelve months. Our profit in the 2017 financial year saw us invest back into the business to provide stronger resources for the team to build a more profitable business inline with the new strategic direction.
Changes to our Board
During the current term, some changes were made to our Board and I’d like to thank and acknowledge outgoing Board Members, our former Chairperson Ruth Newman and Riko Eguchi for their contribution and dedication to Realise Business. At a recent EGM our new Constitution was officially adopted, and this action marked the culmination of several years of hard work to update and professionalise our corporate governance to bring it up to date with the current business. I particularly wish to acknowledge the contribution of both Barbara Curtis and our current Board Secretary, Robert James, to this process.
As we grow and change to match our strategic direction, I felt it was the appropriate time to hand over the position of Chair to someone who had the skills and experience to lead the business through its next stage of growth and in June 2018, Peter Holtmann was appointed as the new Chair of the Board. Peter has already contributed
greatly to Realise Business and I believe he’s the perfect person to lead our three-year strategic plan to develop a more sustainable business – well beyond 2020.
I will of course stay on as a Board Member, with a renewed focus on the strategic direction of the business, and look forward to achieving our future business goals with the new Chair, Peter, and
Board Members, Marcus Marchant, Des Viranna, Robert James and Treasurer, Adrian Brock.
Looking ahead
Next year will certainly be another exciting year of growth for Realise Business as we continue to position ourselves as one of the top performing generalist advisory services in the Sydney region.
We are also focussed on refining our services and our membership to truly add value to the Australian business community as we work on delivering advisory services to a wider audience using digital platforms.
In FY 2019 we’ll continue to widen our service offering and our geographical coverage where we’ll expand our Virtual Learning program along with our face-to-face advisory contractual obligations throughout the Sydney region.
The trajectory of growth for Realise Business continues to have a strong and positive momentum and the future is bright for our members and clients moving into 2020, and well into the future.
Lindsay Munns
Chair
