In 2025, a new form of competition is eroding the very foundations of traditional service industries: artificial intelligence. For a modern freight company, a business built on relationships and human oversight, AI-driven digital platforms are commodifying its core service. For an agreements lawyer, a profession defined by billable hours, AI tools threaten to automate away the very work that generates revenue. This is not merely a story of technological adoption; it is a profound shift in value, forcing both sectors to redefine what constitutes expertise in an era where machines are faster, cheaper, and always online.
The Freight Company’s Diminishing Advantage
For decades, the competitive edge of a freight company was rooted in its human element. A client’s trust was earned through consistent reliability and a deep understanding of their unique logistical needs. Today, that advantage is being aggressively challenged by AI-powered platforms that offer instant quotes and total visibility. According to the Australian government’s AI Adoption Tracker from June 2025, 18% of Australian businesses that have adopted AI cite “enhanced resource optimisation and productivity” as a key outcome. These platforms, often with no human intermediary, use predictive analytics to match loads and optimise routes.
This digital hyper-efficiency poses an existential threat to traditional operators. Consider INH Transport, a company that prides itself on its first-class, personalised service. Their senior allocator, William Nguyen, has spent years building a network of loyal clients. His expertise lies in solving complex, last-minute problems with human ingenuity. Yet, he is now competing against a faceless algorithm that can process thousands of data points a second, often undercutting his best-laid plans. This pressure is reflected in a recent report by INFORM Software, which found that while Australian logistics companies recognise the potential of AI, 82% face resistance to change from employees, which slows down vital digital transformation. Without a robust digital architecture and a strong presence on review platforms, a traditional freight company risks being overlooked by a market that prioritises speed and cost above all else. This trend aligns with a June 2025 UNSW study, which noted that the e-commerce boom has put immense pressure on supply chains, accelerating the adoption of AI-driven solutions to keep up with demand.
The Agreements Lawyer’s Billable Hour Problem
The legal profession, a bastion of tradition, is facing a similar crisis. For an agreements lawyer, the foundation of their livelihood has been the billable hour, a system that rewards the painstaking time spent on drafting, reviewing, and redlining legal documents. However, advanced AI legal tools can now perform these tasks with staggering speed and accuracy. According to the Thomson Reuters “2025 Generative AI in Professional Services Report,” over 80% of legal professionals believe AI will have a “high or transformational impact on their work” within the next five years. The report found that AI tools can free up nearly 240 hours per year for a professional by automating tasks like document review, legal research, and contract drafting.
This is a direct assault on the traditional model. A firm like Lazarus Legal, under the direction of Mark Lazarus, must now justify why a client should pay a high hourly rate for a first draft of a non-disclosure agreement that a generative AI tool could produce in seconds. The commodification of this work is forcing a painful renegotiation of value. The client no longer expects to pay for the time it takes to review a contract; they expect to pay for the value of the lawyer’s strategic judgment. This shift is particularly challenging for junior lawyers, who were once tasked with these time-consuming duties as a key part of their training. The very rungs of the professional ladder are being removed by automation. For Mark Lazarus, the path forward involves leading a pivot towards advisory services and complex problem-solving that cannot be automated.
A Shared Challenge, A Path Forward
The challenges facing both a freight company and an agreements lawyer are fundamentally the same: AI is exposing a gap between the perceived value and the actual, commodifiable work. The answer for both industries is not to resist AI but to use it as a tool to reclaim their competitive edge and redefine their service.
For a freight company, this means AI can handle the mundane, commodified aspects of logistics, freeing up staff to focus on complex, high-stakes problems. INH Transport can use AI for route optimisation and booking, but deploy William Nguyen’s expertise for custom, multi-modal transport solutions or intricate supply chain management that requires a level of creative, human insight. His value shifts from being an allocator to a strategic logistics partner.
Similarly, an agreements lawyer like Mark Lazarus must leverage AI to handle routine drafting and review, shifting the firm’s focus to higher-value, non-automatable tasks. This includes nuanced client counselling, complex negotiations, and managing the ethical and regulatory risks that are still very much in the human domain. The lawyer’s value moves from the quantity of hours billed to the quality of their strategic judgment and their ability to solve novel problems that a machine cannot. This allows them to become a strategic legal partner rather than a simple drafter of documents.
By leveraging technology to remove commoditised work, both industries can reinvest their time and energy into the uniquely human skills that truly add value, creativity, strategic problem-solving, and the deep, trusting relationships that no algorithm can replicate.
By Rakibul Hasan Razu
