We all use professionals to provide us with advice in matters where we lack specific knowledge. If you get a horrible pain in your stomach, you go see your doctor. If you are setting up a business or getting a divorce you might go see your lawyer. If you need help with your taxes, you might see your accountant. If you can't figure out if you will have enough money when you retire, you may go see a financial analyst. What do all these professions have in common? They are all hegemonies of access. They are social institutions set up to control access to expert advice. I cannot, for example, hang out a shingle and start offering medical, legal or financial advice. In order to do this you have to be blessed by the hegemony.
This protects consumers from being taken advantage of by fakes and charlatans. So, I am not saying this is a bad thing. I am saying that it is changing. Many people will go to WebMD before they go to their doctor. They may go to Legal Zoom to set up their LLC. They may use Turbo Tax for their taxes. And recent news articles (I don't have the references handy) suggest that software providing financial advice actually does a better job than financial advisers.
What does this mean for the professions? Well, as their control over access to advice erodes, we will see three likely trends. First, there will be fewer jobs as the bulk of the advice they give is fairly routine and software can provide that advise more accurately and more cheaply. Second, the profession will divide between lower paying facilitating jobs where professionals help people use the software, and much few higher paying jobs for those that handle the non-routine cases and help design and enhance the software.
It used to be that being a doctor, lawyer, accountant or financial adviser was a really good job. But, those days are quickly slipping away.
No comments:
Post a Comment