Spotlight on Rosanne Bell: A Thought Leader in Registry Innovation

At Foster Moore, we are privileged to have Rosanne Bell as a member of our advisory board. With an illustrious career spanning over two decades at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Rosanne has become a prominent thought leader in the registry sector. Her expertise in managing complex registry operations and spearheading transformative initiatives has positioned her as a guiding force in our mission to enhance registry solutions worldwide.  

In her role at Foster Moore, Rosanne provides invaluable strategic advice, ensuring we remain at the forefront of registry innovation and client service excellence. 

To gain deeper insights into Rosanne's perspectives on the registry landscape and her contributions to Foster Moore, we spoke directly with her. Here are a few of our questions and her insightful answers. 

Q & A with Rosanne Bell 

As a strategic advisory board member at Foster Moore, how do you help guide the company’s strategy and direction? 

In my role at Foster Moore, I engage closely with our staff and leaders, acting as a sounding board, particularly focused on our Australian engagement activities. I attend strategic advisory board meetings to gain insights into the company’s activities and strategies, allowing me to provide meaningful input. My contributions extend to the creation of written papers that we publish, ensuring our insights reach a wider audience.  

Additionally, by staying well-networked with my contacts in the registry and regulatory space, I can share relevant updates and developments, that is why I participate in industry forums and global events such as the Corporate Registers Forum (CRF), which are an excellent platform to leverage established relationships within the community. 

You spent over 20 years at ASIC, holding key leadership roles, including Executive Director. What do you consider your most significant accomplishment? 

Reflecting on my time at ASIC, I take pride in several key accomplishments. One of the most impactful was the expansion of online services for our customers. By streamlining critical transactions like searching registers and facilitating company registrations, we filled essential gaps in service delivery. I also helped introduce new national registers, such as the national business names register and credit licensing, as part of broader government reforms. Maintaining and enhancing services for clients on legacy registers was another area where we made significant strides, supported by a dedicated team. 

Leading efforts to modernize Australia's business registers involved navigating complex privatization processes and implementing necessary governmental changes, and it was rewarding to see those initiatives progress. 

You help lead ASIC’s efforts to modernise of Australia’s business registers, a major undertaking. Based on your experience, what strategic advice would you offer to agencies or organizations just beginning their own transformation journey? 

As agencies and organizations embark on their digital transformation journeys or navigate new challenges, I would like to share some thoughtful advice drawn from my experience. Here are a few insights that I hope will be helpful: 

• Develop a vision and clear measurable goals: have good realistic plans and strong project governance in place. 

• Start with the legislation and policy settings – get that right and make sure it enables your vision. 

• Think digital – do not replicate paper-based activities, think about data and security.  

• Reengineer your processes before you take them online – and think about integrating processes across agencies.  

• Map and manage your stakeholders, keeping them actively engaged and giving them a say. 

• Secure your funding, and make sure you can afford to maintain new services, not a ‘set and forget’ approach. 

• Use registry experts to help you, both sourced internally (e.g., The staff that run your registry) and externally. Look to world experience and best practice as lots of the solutions are already out there. 

What challenges do governments face when moving registry services online? 

Governments often face significant challenges when moving registry services online. Securing funding and gaining agencies and governmental buy-ins can be complex, and managing customer transitions with minimal bureaucracy is essential. Prioritizing limited resources while ensuring stakeholder feedback is heard can be a balancing act. Additionally, reskilling staff and restructuring operations to accommodate new service demands requires careful planning and execution. Establishing a forward-looking strategy to manage and evolve new services is critical for long-term success. 

You have extensive experience in managing 30+ registries and millions of business transactions annually. How do you strike a balance between meeting immediate operational needs and staying focused on long-term strategic growth and innovation? 

Striking a balance between immediate operational needs and long-term strategic growth is a challenge that requires careful consideration. Delivering the current operations is critical, because registries facilitate important business and economic activity, and because there are legislative mandates to keep it running.   That said, growth and innovation are critical to longer-term success of the registry and the economy it supports.   
 
There are usually some non-core activities that can be streamlined for a period.  Good planning is critical, to map out the divide of resources to balance operations and growth/innovation work. Every registry faces challenges in getting the balance right, so it is important to consult and communicate widely and be ready to adapt and pivot regularly. 

You played an instrumental role in the birth and growth of the Corporate Registers Forum. What inspired the creation of this platform, and how has it positively impacted the global registry community? 

The CRF started in the Asia Pacific with the second conference in my hometown of Melbourne in 2005. The focus quickly evolved to be worldwide given the commonalities globally. To me, the CRF is a way to meet like-minded people, to share and learn about different registry practices, and to see how others tackle registry innovation and challenges. Most years I would bring back one or two great ideas to try in Australia.   

What were the most memorable moments during your time at the CRF? How did these experiences shape your approach to registry innovation and collaboration? 

My time at the CRF has been one of the highlights of my career. It has offered me the opportunity to connect with registry experts, share challenges, and discover collaborative solutions in a supportive environment. The CRF is a fun and dynamic community that unites registrars with various stakeholders, helping us identify global trends and establish best practices in the registry field. 

As the former president of the CRF, you collaborated with registrars from over 65 countries. What were some of your key takeaways from working with such a diverse group of global registry professionals? 

Every country has different registry set ups, government and agency structures, cultures, economic standings, geography and so on.  It is the diversity that makes CRF so wonderful. You can learn from others you feel may be ahead and feel great about sharing your own experiences with those you feel are behind you on the journey. We all share a common interest and passion for registries, and all countries have business structures that give rise to the need for registries. 

Given your deep understanding of registry trends, what emerging innovations do you believe will redefine the industry in the coming years? 

Looking ahead, I believe that innovations impacting businesses broadly will also influence the registry landscape. For instance, global alignment, technological developments, artificial intelligence, integrated services, cybersecurity, advances in authentication methods, data management, changes in payment methods, etc. Registries must remain agile, adapting to these emerging trends to stay relevant and effective. 

What excites you most about your role at Foster Moore and the work the company does for governments worldwide? 

Foster Moore is full of great people and registry experts. They really care about partnering to provide long-term solutions, not just making a quick sale. They are always available for a chat. They have been around a long time and have a proven track record.  They were instrumental in driving New Zealand to its No 1 in world bank ranking in doing business across many years – that is impressive.  

I am excited to play a role in helping Foster Moore to support business registries and their customers globally. 

Rosanne’s insights and strategic direction help shape our journey at Foster Moore. Her wealth of experience and dedication to registry innovation is invaluable as we continue to lead the way in providing intelligent registry solutions for governments worldwide. 

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