TAKING STOCK: Part III

Take time to celebrate you!

We hate to brag. 

It’s not how we like to do things here at AJS. We believe that good work speaks for itself (and certainly speaks volumes for any company’s success or failure. In general).

Having been committed to working hard on our brand for over 42 years, we would say that we have definitely tried our best to earn our way to become a leading provider of software for legal and corporate markets. And that’s saying something – being a leading provider. Undeniably demonstrating that dedication is at the heart of everything we do.

But humility aside, when we came across this quote by Ian Wallace â€“ 

“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?”

We thought to ourselves – he has a good point!

Because part of taking stock (as you read in our article Taking Stock Part II), is taking time to smell the roses (thorns and all) and acknowledging and appreciating what you have been able to accomplish. Especially during hard times. 

Taking stock is also about looking at yourself, at your company and appreciating how much you have grown. It is about realising not only your value but also how much you stand out from the rest of the crowd. 

Which in our case (modesty aside), is quite a lot. We think.

As Oprah Winfrey says – 

“When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.”

And for us, this couldn’t be further from the truth – it is not possible to undervalue what we do. Because not only are we passionate about our work, our product and the markets that we serve but we also know the value that our company (and our products) bring to those who choose us as their service providers. 

So on that note – 

Standing out from the crowd

In an article titled A Voice for South Africa’s LegalTech Industry, it sets out that – 

“The legal industry has been one of the slowest industries to adopt technology. This is why the term “LegalTech” is often met with confusion by attorneys, advocates, in-house counsel, law students, and legal academics alike.

Over the past few years, South Africa has seen a proliferation of LegalTech startups being founded. Unlike the interest in and meteoric rise of fintech, LegalTech is still very much nascent”.

Going on to say that (as we well know), the legal industry requires disruption in order to innovate (something the COVID crisis has very much provided) and the innovation that has been demonstrated by the existing legal-tech startups in South Africa (serving countries around the world), including AJS, is evidence that the disruption has only just begun.

Whilst we acknowledge that we are not a LegalTech startup (having been within the industry for 42 years), we are as a company, proud to have been be included under both Practice Management and Legal Accounting as companies to “look out for”. Why? Well, these are areas where we are consistently innovating and improving our service offerings so that we remain at the forefront of technological advancement. Providing our clients with best in class technology. 

Come to think of it – and we must admit – our web based service offerings (including our Cloud hosting), have been so groundbreaking that we would not blame Tech.Build for assuming our company is a startup. We are that revolutionary. 

And we are so proud of that! 

Therefore…..

Allow us to tell you a little about us 

To start off with, we are not newcomers to the industry. But despite this longevity, we have always remained at the forefront of â€œwhat’s next”. 

We are a leading provider of business software for legal and corporate markets, where we initially earned our reputation for dependable legal accounting and practice management software. Today however, we offer a broad range of products for a diverse range of industries. The technical expertise of our highly capable team ensures that we are able to offer a full-service package of sales, marketing, training and support to our customers. On top everything else we do. 

Part and parcel of our software offering includes – 

1. AJS Express â€“ a full-featured accounting and practice management software suite, hosted on a robust and securely hosted Cloud-based system; 
2. AJS Pro â€“ a Cloud-based system that has all the features of AJS Express but is geared towards mid-size firms that need more customisation and flexibility (with additional features);
3. AJS Enterprise â€“ is the most comprehensive legal and professional accounting and practice management software package in Southern Africa;
4. AJS FLOW â€“ automates repetitive processes and increases throughput by improving control and ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks. Accessed through the Cloud, users can access the system from anywhere on almost any device, and
5. XpressDox â€“ is the “gold standard” for advanced document automation. It is a premium system allowing for advanced document automation and publishing that comes with customisable elements and components made to work together seamlessly. 

For a full list (because there is more) of our product offerings, click here.

But as we said in our article on Automation, the clients of tomorrow and employees of today will demand technology-enhanced services and will expect to be provided with the ability to focus on complex higher-value work to solve problems, rather than on the menial, labour intensive work.

And because of that need to constantly innovate, we strongly believe that to continue to be selected as the obvious choice in business and legal software provision, we need to continually prove to our clients that we offer technology-enhanced services and advanced capabilities. We need to constantly push our innovation and advancement with everything we have. Or risk losing clients to our competitors.

Therefore, we have been on a mission this year to improve on what we already offer, because innovation is always at the forefront of everything we do!

Impressive, huh?

During 2021, we decided to embark on the release of our Version 4 Updates. This proved to be a momentous moment for AJS because we proved to ourselves (and our clients) that we are able (despite our seniority within the industry), to continually surprise ourselves (and them) with what we are able to constantly achieve and what amazing products we are able to provide. In addition, we have managed to sustain our ability to not only survive but thrive. No matter the surrounding circumstances.  

We are proud to say that at AJS we have not only remained at the top of our game, but we have also managed to innovate and improve on our service offerings. Something we believe confirms what we have been saying all along during this Taking Stock series – 

“Hard times force us to find new innovative solutions and cope in ways which foster continuous forward thinking and resilience. Sure, 2021 has been a year full of disruptions in operations, upheavals and disappointments but because of that we have all been forced to adapt rapidly to dramatic changes. We have all been forced to adapt to challenges and set-backs and by so doing, have experienced success. Success which can only be attributed to innovation, adaptation and resiliency resulting from hard/tough times”.  

And keeping the above in mind, we can say with absolute certainty that we have, in fact, managed to successfully adapt to the changes expected of us. By doing so, we have ensured that the industry we serve has also been able to adapt, to change and to embrace technology in a way that is unprecedented. 

Thereby ensuring that the legal industry as a whole has managed to thrive (and not only survive) right alongside us. 

How cool is that?

Our closing thoughts

With that there is little more we can say on Taking Stock of the past year, on looking back on what we have been through (which we acknowledge is a lot) and what we have managed to accomplish despite it all. 

The only things we feel necessary to add is the inclusion of the following quotes, which we believe to be apt – 

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself” â€“ William Faulkner

“Never say that you can’t do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can’t be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds. We are each the masters of our own reality; when we become self-aware to this: absolutely anything in the world is possible. Master yourself, and become king of the world around you. Let no odds, chastisement, exile, doubt, fear, or ANY mental virii prevent you from accomplishing your dreams. Never be a victim of life; be it’s conqueror” – Mike Norton

And lastly, a repeat form last week – 

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”  – Marcus Aurelius

So go on – brag a little about yourself. Celebrate your accomplishments, remember them and acknowledge that as we get closer to the end of the year – in one way or another – we have made it. Not entirely unscathed – we may be a little scarred and a little bruised. But, the end of the year is in sight. And with that, we can start looking to the future with all the hope that a new start may bring. 

Go ahead – give yourself a pat on the back and know that by Taking Stock of the year you have already acknowledged the hardships, reflected on what you could have done better but most importantly you have celebrated the things that you have been able to achieve. 

That said, now is the time for all of us to start focusing on our futures and the next steps that we are going to take to ensure the continuing successes of all of our businesses.

So well done – to all of us!

We’ll “Cheers” to that!

Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS