On Tuesday 25th May 2021, professionals from across the conveyancing sector came together to celebrate the successes and achievements of the industry at The British Conveyancing Awards 2021.
The inaugural awards took to the virtual stage, and were led by the fabulous award winning broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed. If you want a re-cap of the action, the recording is available to view here.
As part of our winner spotlight features, we want to shine a light on those who have been crowned in first place at this year’s event.
Today we profile Coadjute who won the Innovation of the Year award.
About the award
This award recognises the firm or business that can demonstrate how a new innovative project or product (for example, business process and/or product or service) has positively impacted on the ability of the firm to do their job. This may be a procedural improvement, implementation of technology or an innovation that can demonstrate an improvement to the customer journey.
The winner of this award must be able to demonstrate over the last 12 months:
- How the innovation has transformed a key element of a company’s culture or performance
- How they have broken new ground in the delivery of services to clients
- A unique approach that goes beyond a single product or service success within the industry
Awarding Coadjute the winner’s crown, the judges said:
“Connectivity enabling firms to pull together all their various techs and have them operate seamlessly is really exciting. It is the use of blockchain and the fact that organisations do not need new systems which sets this innovation apart.
PLS Solicitors were highly commended in this category, and Taylor & Emmet LLP secured third spot.
We spoke to Coadjute shortly after they heard the news they’d won the award.
How did you feel winning the Innovation of the Year?
It is a huge honour for Coadjute to win this award. We know the challenge the conveyancing sector has been through in recent months, and to be recognised as part of the solution is really humbling. We are delighted to have such strong support from the conveyancing profession, and this award is a wonderful mark of that.
Tell us about your team and the services you provide.
We are a high calibre team of experienced professionals from the worlds of banking, property, government, and technology who share a passion for the property industry and believe that many of the challenges of the UK property market can be solved not by replacing systems, ‘but connecting them’.
Put simply, Coadjute connects the software that runs the property market. Our open blockchain network connects the platforms already used by conveyancers and also estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders, opening up a range of new connected possibilities.
These include seeing progress updates in real-time, securely sharing documents and messages, and even automating processes like payments.
Our aim is to reduce the administrative effort for property professionals, improve security, and help everyone make the property process simpler and quicker. In addition, buyers and sellers benefit from greater transparency, a reduced risk of fraud, and a faster property sale.
Importantly, our network is based on bank-grade blockchain technology, so we can synchronise the data across the different platforms people use with huge security and reliability.
How has your firm developed in the last 14 months and navigated the added complexity of the coronavirus pandemic and SDLT holiday?
The last year has been really difficult for conveyancers and others in the property industry, with the double challenges of huge volumes and having to work more remotely. Ironically, this has highlighted the need for better connectivity, so it has actually accelerated the already high demand for Coadjute. We know we are an important part of the solution for the future, enabling all players in the industry to be able to work together in real-time more simply, quickly and securely than previously possible.In practical terms, following the success of our pilot last year (which involved NatWest Bank) we have been focused on getting our network ready for launch. As well as the technical side of this, a key part of this has been recruiting software partners to join the network, across the property industry. Many of the largest software players in the property market have already announced they’ll be on the network, including CMS software platforms Osprey Approach and Redbrick, and CRMs like DezRez, MRI, Reapit and VTUK which are used by over half of estate agents. We are regularly announcing more partnerships as Coadjute rolls out across the industry.
We are also talking directly to Conveyancers and Estate Agents to explain what we do and how it can benefit them. We know conveyancers are busy and don’t always have much time for technology, so our aim has been to make our service really effortless to use – embedding the functionality in their existing Case Management System, and ensuring the whole experience works seamlessly.
What’s next on the cards for you?
After 2 years of successful pilots and a major technology build, Coadjute is now ready to launch this year. We have assembled we believe the best team in PropTech, have announced a major industry sponsorship, and have a string of leading industry names who will partner with us. It’s going to be a huge year, not just for us, but for the UK property
industry who will get the first real-time network for property transactions in the world.
What advice would you give someone thinking of joining the conveyancing sector?
We’re not conveyancers ourselves, but working with them we would just say that they are a lot more innovative group than they credit for. They are very demanding, of course, both in the usability of systems and the security they rightly expect, but they are quick to spot something they think will genuinely help them. Certainly, we enjoy working with them!
This is the very first British Conveyancing Awards, which recognises the herculean efforts of the industry, why do you think these awards are so important, especially after the last 14 months?
These awards are hugely important. No industry can stand still in modern times, but the property and legal professions are under particular pressure to find new ways of working and deliver better service despite the challenges they’ve faced this year. These awards recognise that many conveyancers do an amazing job of that and are also changing fast. They deserve real credit, especially whilst they continue to do the difficult job of looking after our interests when we make a purchase or sale as big as that of a property. They certainly deserve an award!
Everyone at Today’s Conveyancer congratulates all those who entered this year’s awards.
Join in the conversation #BCAwards2021
One Response
The Openview – Powered by VTUK team are proud to be part of the community and the digital transformation of the UK housing market. Well Done Coadjute!