A few short weeks ago over 2,300 industry professionals, representatives and experts attended Ageing Australia 2025. This national conference sees delegates learn about and discuss aged care, retirement living and seniors housing. This year’s theme was ‘Meeting the moment. Shaping the future.’
With a growing roster of clients operating in the aged care space, and the needs of the industry trending towards digital transformation as a vehicle to help meet demand, SalesFix was proud to attend and keen to listen to both speakers and delegates to find out what’s really happening right now in aged care.
WHY DID WE ATTEND?
There were a few reasons we considered this event unmissable. Our primary consideration was understanding Australian aged care providers more deeply.
Providers are facing some challenges in meeting the requirements of the Aged Care Act 2024. By speaking with many of you and attending as many sessions as possible, we were able to gather firsthand accounts of compliance obstacles. In turn, we aim to draw on this in order to shape technology solutions in Salesforce that make compliance and reporting easier.
Secondly, we’ve seen the reports. Like you, we know there’s a shortage of residential care beds, that older people and their advocates are increasingly tech savvy, and we know that the landscape is changing in terms of where and how people are looking for appropriate care. One of our goals was to more completely understand the customer journey from both sides of the equation – the older person and their advocate/s, and the provider and support workers.
Thirdly, the industry realises the potential of AI as a way to transform aged care if used in the right way. This aligns with our own beliefs about the future of business as AI-supported – we launched AgentFix this year (check it out here). We wanted to see how aged care providers are approaching the use of AI, to inform how we develop and build relevant tools and workflows for the industry.
OUR HIGHLIGHTS FROM AGEING AUSTRALIA 2025
We were happy to speak with so many industry professionals during the 3 day conference and this was possibly the most valuable part of our time at Ageing Australia. On-the-ground experience is irreplaceable and the sheer size of the industry and satellite supporting businesses was quite incredible to witness, alongside the professionalism of all who attended.
Many sessions were highly informative and we collected a lot of wisdom throughout the event, however 2 sessions really made an impression.
The global view: International practice and perspectives really struck a chord. Across the world different populations are tackling the same problems; an ageing population and a shortage of residential beds. Industry representatives from India, Singapore and New Zealand shared their perspectives and how they are addressing local populations. This discussion highlighted the importance of sharing problems and solutions both globally and regionally in order to drive improved outcomes.
Welcome home? Not for everyone put a spotlight on the rights of older people to feel safe in their own home, to have their preferences considered and for those entering their home to be respectful of them. The reverse is also true – care workers deserve to feel safe going into people’s homes. This excellent panel explored the complex subjects of identity, racism, bias, vulnerability and the repercussions of a mismatch between the older person and the care worker. This is an area where technology could make a significant difference and we’re committed to exploring how we can lay capabilities into software like Salesforce to make this easy and prevent conflict.
CONCLUSION
Our impression from Ageing Australia 2025 is that the industry is optimistic, and at the same time tempered by realism. While there are challenges (finding staff, resources, funding), there is an atmosphere of endeavour and openness to change for the better, which makes aged care a dynamic and exciting industry to serve.
If you attended Ageing Australia 2025, we’d love to hear your takeaways, any issues you’re grappling with and your general thoughts! You can email Michael at [email protected]
Michael Comans | SalesFix
Aged Care Subject Matter Expert
