Cohesive culture is key: John Ahern

"I’ve worked in some culturally dysfunctional companies," admits John Ahern. "They may say they work really hard at fostering a culture, but the reality is they are only words." InfoTrack is one company that walks the talk, according to its CEO. "It always sounds really contrived to say that we have a great culture and that we spend more time working on the people aspect of the company than we do on just about anything else, but it’s true," he says. 

InfoTrack’s heaving trophy cabinet is proof. For the past three years, the information technology company has ranked among the top 20 workplaces in Australia on the annual Great Places to Work® list, and in 2016 was named an Employer of Choice by the Australian Business Awards®.

While John is keen to deflect the credit to InfoTrack chairman and former CEO Stephen Wood, who he says "has a passion for building a culture of people that then enables a company to grow," it’s obvious that the current executive team are continuing his good work. "We’re always looking for opportunities to do things for our staff because we know a cohesive culture is the key to innovation. Great ideas come from people who enjoy their jobs," John says. 

A cohesive culture is the key to innovation. Great ideas come from people who enjoy their jobs.

Case in point: a national ping-pong championship held at InfoTrack’s Sydney headquarters last year. The top players from each of its Australian offices were pitted against each other, battling it out under  strict competition conditions. "One of our developers even emailed  the CEO of Table Tennis Australia asking if he would send an umpire. So this former Olympian turns up to umpire the tournament, surrounded by 100 cheering and chanting InfoTrack employees. He told us he had never seen a corporate event quite like it," John recalls. 

High-performance philosophy

A high-performance philosophy permeates all aspects of the business. "It’s reflected in two of our core values that are written on our walls here: we continually improve to be the best; and we are determined to reach our goals." Everyone displays on their desk their personalised ‘top five’ objectives for the next four months, since each employee has a defined role to play in overall company performance.

"Our success is built on strategic alignment; we’re all working towards the common goal of putting technology in the hands of our clients. We’re disrupters, but we understand that this industry isn’t about bells and whistles; it’s about what’s simple and intuitive and what provides our clients with time savings." 

It’s no surprise to learn InfoTrack’s general manager of human resources is an Olympic medallist (Fiona Crawford, who was a member of the Australian softball team that won silver and bronze in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004).

"Most general managers of HR I’ve dealt with look after salary reviews and staff that run naked through the office," John laughs. "Fiona is the driving force of our high-performance culture, and she works with every manager to make sure that people understand it’s not just a buzzword. It’s about effort over obligation; working smarter and harder than our competitors."

Information brokers

John acknowledges that InfoTrack is in a market "not many people know exist" and uses the term ‘information broker’ to introduce it to the uninitiated.

It’s about effort over obligation; it’s about working smarter and harder than our competitors.

"Since day one, InfoTrack has been about taking information about companies, individuals and property and using technology to add value," he adds, citing its electronic conveyancing platform as an example. John has been on the road regularly over the past several months demonstrating this technology to the industry in a series of roadshows across Australia. 

"A year ago, the conveyancing process was paper-based; today electronic contracts are commonplace. The reason for that is we’ve introduced the technology in an unobtrusive, easy-to-use way that integrates into their current workflow.

We’re not forcing it on anyone; we’re simply showing how it can help them provide a differentiated service, and they’re seeing value in that," he says. The company was originally established in 2000 as LEAP Searching, a division of LEAP Legal Software, the cloud-based legal software for small law firms and conveyancers.

In 2012, it branched out on its own under the name InfoTrack to dominate the legal and conveyancing industries, as well as numerous other verticals with regular search requirements including corporate, accounting, surveying and mercantile. 

People that love what they do

In the midst of this rapid expansion, John still finds the time to go out on sales calls and gets a kick out of it. "I love selling this product. Clients really get into the demonstration, it’s a lot of fun." It’s not uncommon to find John and his general manager of sales, Brendan Smart, meeting potential clients together. "We are big on celebrating every success at InfoTrack and Brendan is a shining example of that. He takes a hands-on approach that has helped lead his team to generate more than 120 new clients per month."  

I love coming to work, because I’m surrounded by professionals who love what they do and are determined to succeed.

For John, InfoTrack’s success is a product of its employees. "It’s not only about our sales team who continually exceed their targets; it’s about our operations teams who provide our award-winning service and our development team who release new features every day of the week," he says.

"High-performance culture is not just something we talk about; it is an environment we create and work hard to build every single day. Our people love what they do and care about the people they work with, so they’re excited to be here. Being surrounded by that type of energy is infectious and fosters innovation and collaboration."