Thomson Reuters has released its Future of Professionals Report. The research was conducted during the months of May and June 2023 via an online survey. More than 1,200 professionals from the legal, tax and accounting, and risk professions employed by corporations, firms, and government agencies completed the survey.
“We are at a unique moment where we have the opportunity to realize the benefits of human intelligence, thinking and collaboration differently, while using the potential of AI to overcome some of professionals biggest pain points.” said Steve Hasker, president and CEO, Thomson Reuters. “Through the application of AI to perform more mundane tasks, professionals have the unique opportunity to address human capital issues such as job satisfaction, well-being, and work-life balance. This will in turn unlock time for professionals to focus on complex work that adds value to their client’s needs.”
View of video of CEO Steve Hasker speaking about the Future of Legal Professionals at this Link.
One interesting feature of this study is a use of sentiment analysis for measuring and representing the impact of AI. Here is an expample
Highlights:
• Optimism for productivity: 45% of professionals pin their biggest AI aspirations on improved productivity, expecting benefits for their talent, customers, and environment.
• A new value exchange: “Producing high-quality advice” tops the list of important motivators across all industries, with AI leading professionals into a new era of what it means to be an advisor.
• Responsible AI: Developing responsible technology is not just an industry issue, but a societal imperative. Professionals stated some concerns with AI were around accuracy (25%), data security (15%), and ethics (15%).
Legal Professionals:
• Catalyst for growth: Improved productivity and efficiency are seen as the biggest positive effects of AI (75% and 67%, respectively) for law firm professionals. Additionally, law firms see AI as an opportunity for increased revenue as more than half (55%) of legal professionals predicted that lower costs for firms, resulting from AI use, will lead to greater firm profitability. Also, 81% of legal respondents expect new services to emerge within the next five years, creating new revenue sources.
• New skills and career paths: 58% of respondents anticipate seeing a rise in their professional skills, while more than two-thirds of legal professionals see a more consultative approach to advice. As skills will be highly prized, new career paths are likely to emerge, and 81% see a rise in the use of alternative legal service providers (ALSPs).
• Areas of need and concern: According to respondents, the profession needs to address a lack of technology skills as well as a lack of investment in technology. As for areas of concern, the top issue is accuracy (30%).
Tax and Accounting Professionals:
• Freeing up time to deliver more value: Productivity is the highest priority for tax and accounting firms (59%), while internal efficiency (75%) tops the list in corporate tax and accounting departments.
• Intelligent advisory: “Producing high-quality advice” tops the list of motivators for most professionals (67%). In tax, growing an advisory practice is a route for firms to differentiate and illuminate the expertise of staff.
• Bridging the talent gap in tax: Professionals predict new career paths will become available (66%), including increases in roles that do not require traditional tax qualifications (68%), over the next five years. In tax, more enrolled agent (EA) professionals may be able to do personal tax returns.
Government Professionals:
• AI and Talent: Talent issues tend to be a higher priority for government professionals than for their corporate counterparts, and they tend to feel more optimism that AI can help in some of these areas. Training, recruitment, wellbeing, and engagement were all more common organizational priorities among government professionals.
• Slower adoption: Overall, government professionals tend to think that AI adoption will be slower than in corporations, due to data security fears and general resistance to change and will therefore have less impact.
To access the full report, visit https://thomsonreuters.com/en/campaigns/future-ofprofessionals.html
Methodology Research was conducted during the months of May and June 2023 via an online survey. More than 1,200 professionals from the legal, tax and accounting, and risk professions employed by corporations, firms, and government agencies completed the survey. About half of the participants were based in the United States, with most of the remaining half from the UK, Canada, and Latin America. Most of the respondents were in traditional roles, meaning that those in the legal industry were lawyers, those in the tax and accounting industry were accountants and CPAs, and a small minority performed roles in operations and technology. In addition, the majority of respondents represented Baby Boomers (those born between 1946-1964), followed by Gen X (1965-1980), and Millennial (1981- 1996) generations. A handful of respondents were Gen Z (1997-2012) or Silent Generation (born prior to 1946).
