I work with Deloitte's Asia Pacific Executive, Asia Pacific Chief Strategy Officer and the regional Strategy & Innovation council on a range of Competitive Intelligence (CI) initiatives, including the extension of CI capabilities from the AU firm to other Geographies, supporting the deployment of Geography-wide processes and methodologies for intelligence gathering and analysis, developing a suite of CI products and services that will provide regional leadership with insight to support decision-making and advising the AP CEO and AP Executive on critical changes in the competitive landscape.

I have held the role of National Leader, Market & Competitive Intelligence with Deloitte Australia for the last six years; reporting to the firm's Office of the Chief Strategy Officer. I am responsible for ensuring alignment between market insights/sensing activities and firm strategy, leveraging insights for the commercialisation of new offerings and eminence-building collateral/POVs, and continuous innovation and improvement of the offering. This is a challenging, rewarding and above all, exciting role that has enabled me to develop my skills in areas including:• Market sensing: Drive the development of firm-wide collection and analysis of market signals, indicators, competitive insights and other intelligence for the purposes of decision making and action. • Strategy: Consult with the firm's leadership to ensure that all market intelligence and sensing activities are aligned with Deloitte's strategic priorities. Contribute to the firm's inorganic growth strategy by providing advice on suitable M&A targets through needs analysis and market scanning. Regularly consult with the firm's Chief Strategy Officer to understand emerging needs and advise on prospective market intelligence products/solutions to address requirements. • Commercialisation: Improve the rigour of business cases for the build-out of new products and services through applying market analysis and competitive intelligence. Apply market insights to the innovation process to assist in ideation.• Eminence: Ensure that market intelligence activities are focused on "top of mind" client issues. Consult with editorial leaders to bring market intelligence outputs to bear in the development of Deloitte's thought leadership and points of view. • Collaboration and connectivity: Contribute to regional/global competitive intelligence initiatives, as directed by the Global Chief Strategy Officer. Cultivate relationships with global peers; particularly across APAC.

This role provided leadership to the firm's Melbourne-based Knowledge & Research team; prior to the establishment of a dedicated, national Market Intelligence function. My tenure in this role coincided with a fundamental need to significantly transform Deloitte Australia's research function. In consultation with the firm's Chief Strategy Officer, I transformed the entire function from a reactive subdivision of a broader Knowledge Management division, to a proactive sensing weapon! My primary responsibilities included:• MI service design/delivery: Responsible for the design and delivery of research products and services to support business development, engagement delivery, sales/pursuits and industry/corporate strategy. • Stakeholder engagement: Working with regional firm leaders (particularly the Office Managing Partner and Industry leaders) to ensure that Knowledge & Research team outputs and initiatives contributed strategic value.• Team leadership: Providing counselling, coaching and performance management to the Victorian Knowledge & Research community.

This role was part of the Assurance & Advisory service line's Business Development function; providing research to assist in audit targeting, audit defence, advisory opportunities, as well as broader research to support the firm's response to the evolution of the audit function due to regulatory and market change. As a service line "owned" resource, this opportunity was excellent for its sense of collegiality and teaming. My responsibilities included:• Sensing: Maintaining a proactive market watch of changes in the audit market, including regular market share analysis, partner rotation timetables and strategic indicators emitted by Deloitte's competitors.• Research and analysis: Providing research-based support to audit pursuits, including company analysis (financial, strategic, decision-makers etc) and competitor analysis.• Knowledge management: Working with the firm's knowledge community to bring qualifications and credentials to bear on audit pursuits.• Advisory: Participation in account planning/targeting workshops, including the presentation of research findings.

A hybrid knowledge/market intelligence role for Deloitte Consulting prior to its re-integration with the Audit/Tax business (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu). The role was fascinating, but working with the firm throughout its re-integration with the DTT business was even more educational and insightful. My primary responsibilities included:• Engagement delivery: Support engagement teams with access to proprietary tools to enhance consulting engagement delivery (e.g. benchmarking tools, methodologies, frameworks etc).• Sales and pursuits: Support the sales and pursuits process by sourcing global credentials, qualifications and subject matter expertise.• Research: Conduct industry and client-focused research to assist in the tailoring of selling messages etc.• Knowledge management: Work with project teams to develop improved processes for the collection of engagement credentials, subject matter expertise and broader firm experience.

An exciting role in a combined KM/Research team that provided support to EY's partners and account teams (cross-service lines), particularly around significant bids and client engagements. I was lucky to work with an influential mentor in this role; and my experiences with EY elicited my passion for providing an extraordinary client experience to the firm's partners/leaders. My tenure with EY was also fascinating in that I was with the firm when it assumed the Australian arm of the Arthur Andersen business; a disruptive and game-changing milestone in the firm's history. My primary responsibilities included:• Pursuits: Provided research support to the development of sales and pursuits collateral.• Account management: Provided regular written and presentation-based updates to various large account teams on client and industry developments.• Knowledge management: Maintained several of the firm's primary knowledge bases to capture global engagement credentials and subject matter expertise. Proactively sourced relevant content.

This role activated my passion for professional services. I was lucky to be working for KPMG's Information Risk Management (IRM) practice at a time when the threat of the "Millennium Bug" was real and loomed large in the minds of KPMG's clients. The experience of seeing my work resonate with clients set the tone for the rest of my career. My primary responsibilities included:• Case studies: Researching and writing case studies to assist KPMG's clients understand the potential impact of the Y2K bug and risk mitigation measures. • Engagement support: Provided research to support KPMG's IRM partners/practitioners in engagement and conversations with clients around Y2K risk strategy.• Client/account planning: Attend account planning meetings (and some client meetings) to participate in discussion around evolving risk in relation to the Millennium Bug.• Client platform: Worked with KPMG's knowledge professionals to assist in the build-out of an extranet platform (quite innovative technology then!) for the British Bankers' Authority to share Y2K learnings for the financial services community in the UK.