The modern Company Secretary role has undergone a dramatic transformation. What was once primarily administrative now sits firmly at the intersection of governance, compliance, and strategic advisory. Yet despite this evolution, many CoSecs find themselves in an unappreciated role, as their most effective work is preventative, ensuring problems are solved long before they become visible to anyone else.
Being an influencer is a challenge facing today's Company Secretaries. They make a significant contribution to their organisations through their skills, managing the relationships established both formally and informally. Yet, their impact sometimes goes unrecognised by boards and executive teams, who only notice governance when something goes wrong.
The CoSec role will continue to evolve—which means it’s up to individual professionals to position themselves to lead that evolution or risk being left behind.
Several driving forces are changing the Company Secretary role:
Regulatory complexity has intensified significantly, with the importance of the role having increased over the years as ASIC and ASX requirements continue to evolve. Compliance failures now carry severe reputational and financial consequences that boards can't ignore.
Board expectations have shifted from tick-box compliance to genuine oversight and strategic input. Directors increasingly expect their Company Secretary to provide real-time insights and proactive advice, not just process administration.
Shareholder activism is on the rise, requiring sophisticated communication strategies and stakeholder management skills that go far beyond traditional registry functions.
These drivers create opportunity and pressure. The CoSecs who thrive are those who recognise that while compliance remains essential, their real value lies in enabling excellence in strategic governance.
Progressive Company Secretaries are transforming their practice in five critical areas that position them as strategic partners rather than just administrative support:
1. Automated workflows
Manual processes are the enemy of strategic thinking. When CoSecs spend hours on routine tasks, such as tracking share issuance capacity or preparing director interest forms, there is little mental energy left for higher-value work. Modern registry platforms can save up to 8 hours per week on routine administration—time that can be redirected toward strategic governance and risk management.
Successful CoSecs are actively seeking out and implementing automation tools that eliminate friction from their workflows, creating capacity for the advisory work that boards increasingly demand.
2. Strategic insights
Future-ready CoSecs don't just manage compliance—they translate governance data into real-time insights that impact board decision-making and drive informed action. This means moving beyond reactive reporting to proactive analysis of trends, risks, and opportunities.
The ability to synthesise complex regulatory requirements into clear business consequences, and having the skills to identify risks and opportunities working across all levels of the organisational space, are significant factors that set strategic CoSecs apart from their administrative counterparts.
3. Confident compliance
Confident compliance goes beyond meeting minimum requirements. It means having systems and processes that provide certainty around complex regulations, enabling CoSecs to advise boards with authority.
When compliance is automated and transparent, CoSecs can focus on interpretation and strategic application rather than worrying about procedural errors. This confidence translates into credibility with boards and executive teams.
4. Professional partnerships
No CoSec can master every aspect of modern governance alone. The most successful CoSecs combine advanced technology with specialist, proactive support. The real advantage here comes from having everything under one roof, a strategic relationship that enhances capabilities and provides access to expertise that would be impossible to maintain in-house.
5. Ability to scale
Whether working in-house or as an outsourced provider, future-ready CoSecs need systems and processes that can scale with demand. For outsourced professionals, this means the ability to take on additional clients without compromising the quality of their services. For in-house CoSecs, it means managing increasing complexity without proportional increases in workload.
Scalability stems from the integration of the other four elements: automated workflows create capacity, strategic insights add value, confident compliance reduces risk, and professional partnerships provide support.
The transformation from administrative function to strategic influence requires both technological sophistication and expert partnership. Modern platforms do the heavy lifting by eliminating routine friction and automating compliance processes. Expert partnership provides the guidance and strategic insight that enables CoSecs to maximise their impact on the Board and C-Suite.
For outsourced Company Secretaries, this combination is powerful. By dramatically increasing efficiency and reducing risk, it creates capacity for business growth while enabling the delivery of higher-value strategic services that clients increasingly seek.
CoSecs who embrace this integrated approach of technology and human partnership will be the ones ahead of the evolution. Rather than fighting against systems, these professionals find themselves supported by technology that anticipates needs and automates routine tasks, providing the foundation for governance leadership.
Set yourself up for success
Download our complete whitepaper, The Future-Ready Company Secretary, to learn how a modern registry can support you to thrive in the CoSec evolution.