SMCT Dedication Award winner: Jake Corcoran

What is your role at SMCT?

My title is Digital Channel Manager, and I’m also a Product Owner in the Revolve Program looking over parts of the CRM. A typical day might start with a daily Digital team stand-up, checking in on the progress of website updates, social media content, email campaigns (and so much more!). It might end with reviewing the outputs of a Revolve story elaboration session, helping to define the capability of our future CRM.

Whatever you call it and whatever it looks like on the day, my role is about connecting with and empowering people across SMCT to achieve their goals when they intersect with public-facing digital channels, so ultimately we can all deliver the best possible experience to the customers we serve.

You were the recipient of the Dedication Award – what drives your dedication to work at SMCT?

It really boils down to people. The work we do as an organisation tangibly supports people who are often going through one of the most difficult experiences of their lives. There is a high level of expectation that is placed on us by families and industry partners, but that expectation is more than matched by the desire to go above and beyond by everyone at SMCT.

In a very practical sense, my dedication is driven by the exceptional people that I get to work with every day. While we all perform different tasks and express our work in different ways, we strive towards a very similar end point. I think that is rather unique for an organisation – often you might find cohesive teams in other workplaces, but from a values perspective, having the whole organisation in alignment is quite rare and special.

What's one project or team activity that you've enjoyed being a part of over the last 12 months?

I think I’m legally obliged to say the Revolve project! We do have several major projects running at the moment but Revolve is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla. All jokes aside, it's been tremendously exciting – working at the cutting edge of technology has been really enjoyable.

Of course, the potential impact for our community has been exciting too. Delivering the new CRM and ERP systems will allow us to create a more cohesive customer experience and focus on what really matters – the people and the families that are in our care.

It’s also really gratifying to see my Digital team step up and take on higher-level challenges. I’m always confident that they have all their work under control, which frees me up to focus more on Revolve. It all goes back to that big draw card at SMCT – the people!

What's one wish you have for the next 12 months?

We have so much happening in the organisation right now, including many important strategic projects that will really benefit from teams working with each other in a cross-functional way. As we move into the discovery and implementation phases of the Revolve project, I am looking forward to contributing to something that could shape the future of not just SMCT, but the entire cemetery sector in Victoria.

My wish for the SMCT employees that contribute to Revolve is to think ‘this is my chance to adjust how I work, the tools that I use, and remove pain points for myself and for customers.’ That applies to more than Revolve – I want people to see these big strategic projects as something that they have ownership over, not just things that are happening off in the distance.

What's something you wish everyone knew about working in the cemeteries industry?

The most surprising thing about working in the cemeteries industry is the opportunity for innovation. This is evident in a variety of different departments at SMCT. While I might approach a project through a technical and digital channel lens, I get to collaborate with almost every area of the organisation and explore other ways of enhancing and modernising our services. It's challenging, but it's exciting – we're not a monolith stuck in the past. We have an obligation to be caretakers for historical knowledge, records and infrastructure, but we aren’t beholden to doing things just because that's the way they have always been done.

There is such a wide array of opportunities when working in this industry – and specifically at SMCT. This, combined with the calibre of our employees, is a compelling combination for an exciting career.