Wednesday, October 24, 2007

We are not Alone

The driving forces that we see changing publishing may appear to be different but are very similar to those being experienced by others.

In a new book that is to be published next year by Oxford University Press, Richard Susskind argues that lawyers and the legal profession face extinction, or are “on the brink of fundamental transformation”. He sees a future, where “conventional legal advisers will be much less prominent in society than today, and, in some walks of life, will have no visibility at all”.

The driving forces are: information technology and what Susskind calls ‘the market pull towards commoditization – carving up a lawyer’s job into identifiable and discreet pieces that can be outsourced and done more cheaply by others.’

When we step back and think about the roles across our value chain we can see similar forces, the question is which roles survive, which are commoditized and which become extinct through technology?