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Lawyers and Accountants 2019 -
technology relates to all three. To be successful in collaboration, there must be common
denominators on which each sector agrees.
Related to technology is the concept of location. This has been described as primary markets and
secondary markets. It has also been used in relation to where expertise is found. The assumption has
been that there is different levels of technology in each. Technology flattens the world, and location
itself is only one factor that is largely irrelevant when considering the resources available. Today, it
is about access to information and resources.
A second theme of this paper is the size of member firms. As previously discussed, size is associated
with firm recognition. At one time, technology created an advantage for the largest organizations. In
order to lead, the organization had to invest. With technology, there is no need for industry
specialization because technology is fungible and scalable.112 These days, technology is professionally
neutral. All firms have access to similar technology created for an ever growing number of number
of companies.
The third aspect of technology is how network members communicate and the structural foundation
for their communications. Technology reconfigures the ability to contact one another and develops
relationships among members or others.
How can technology be used to benefit networks and clients?
The first step for using technology is to carve out a market. For example, Uber deployed technology
to use an existing underutilized resource. The resources were already in place, so all that was
necessary was to develop a way to use these resources. It carved out the market and deployed
resources for users to tap into the services for a relatively low cost. This was possible because if the
limited role it place as an intermediary.
In legal and accounting, it is possible to carve out such a market. AILFN has already accomplished this
by defining the commonalities with statistics. It then took those resources to develop
LawyersAccountants.com. Clients are asking for specific expertise at a fair cost. Locate Law Networks
and Requests for Qualifications, which serve as the foundation of LawyersAccountants.com, supplies
this.
Cost has always been a significant determinative factor when it comes to accessing technology.
Professional services integration requires a common level of technology, which was not possible as
recently as the year 2000. The Big Four had the cost of technology but lost their technical advantage
as pricing and availalbity of technology has decreased. The same technology available in 2000 costs
a fraction of that in 2018, making it readily available.113
The Internet, now a necessary part of daily life, is provided to through utilities. This means the cost
is substantially reduced because the largest market — consumers — are supporting it.
112 Id.
113 D. Jordan Lowe, James L. Bierstaker, Diane J. Janvrin & J. Gregory Jenkins, Information Technology in an Audit Context: Have the Big 4 Lost Their
Advantage? 32 J. OF INF. SYSTEMS 1, 87-107 (May 1, 2017).
33
technology relates to all three. To be successful in collaboration, there must be common
denominators on which each sector agrees.
Related to technology is the concept of location. This has been described as primary markets and
secondary markets. It has also been used in relation to where expertise is found. The assumption has
been that there is different levels of technology in each. Technology flattens the world, and location
itself is only one factor that is largely irrelevant when considering the resources available. Today, it
is about access to information and resources.
A second theme of this paper is the size of member firms. As previously discussed, size is associated
with firm recognition. At one time, technology created an advantage for the largest organizations. In
order to lead, the organization had to invest. With technology, there is no need for industry
specialization because technology is fungible and scalable.112 These days, technology is professionally
neutral. All firms have access to similar technology created for an ever growing number of number
of companies.
The third aspect of technology is how network members communicate and the structural foundation
for their communications. Technology reconfigures the ability to contact one another and develops
relationships among members or others.
How can technology be used to benefit networks and clients?
The first step for using technology is to carve out a market. For example, Uber deployed technology
to use an existing underutilized resource. The resources were already in place, so all that was
necessary was to develop a way to use these resources. It carved out the market and deployed
resources for users to tap into the services for a relatively low cost. This was possible because if the
limited role it place as an intermediary.
In legal and accounting, it is possible to carve out such a market. AILFN has already accomplished this
by defining the commonalities with statistics. It then took those resources to develop
LawyersAccountants.com. Clients are asking for specific expertise at a fair cost. Locate Law Networks
and Requests for Qualifications, which serve as the foundation of LawyersAccountants.com, supplies
this.
Cost has always been a significant determinative factor when it comes to accessing technology.
Professional services integration requires a common level of technology, which was not possible as
recently as the year 2000. The Big Four had the cost of technology but lost their technical advantage
as pricing and availalbity of technology has decreased. The same technology available in 2000 costs
a fraction of that in 2018, making it readily available.113
The Internet, now a necessary part of daily life, is provided to through utilities. This means the cost
is substantially reduced because the largest market — consumers — are supporting it.
112 Id.
113 D. Jordan Lowe, James L. Bierstaker, Diane J. Janvrin & J. Gregory Jenkins, Information Technology in an Audit Context: Have the Big 4 Lost Their
Advantage? 32 J. OF INF. SYSTEMS 1, 87-107 (May 1, 2017).
33
