In the 2024 Publishing Tech Trends report from Silverchair and Hum, we talk about changes in the evolution of publishing technology. But what can we truly predict about the future, beyond the undeniable fact that it will be very different from years' past. What do publishing leaders predict for the future? Read their thoughts below, then download the full report here for more trends and predictions.
Embracing the Unknown
"Whatever we anticipate today isn't what's actually going to happen!" —Tasha Mellins-Cohen, Executive Director, COUNTER"We are only scratching the surface of value of AI and applications to digital publishing." —Phoebe McMellon, CEO, GeoScienceWorld
The Evolution of our Community and our Teams
"One of my biggest worries is about new folks joining the field. If they can't meet their colleagues and they can't meet their peers at other organizations, we're going to lose them. Publishing is a profession we fall in love with for the people. Get those junior staff together with their teams, get them to conference and professional development. Ten and twenty years from now (even five years) you'll be glad you did." —Heather Staines, Senior Consultant, Delta Think"I sadly feel that following some recent major restructures at organizations around the world from societies to large commercial entities, we will continue to see organizations scrutinized and reorganized significantly. Redundancy and restructures are never an easy process, and often undertaken due to revenue loss and looking to keep the organization fit for the future, as well as shifting priorities and skills changes. You are just a number at the end of the day - it's not personal, it's business. Organizations do what they need to do to survive so those left have a job to go to. Several organizations have been accessing their landscape over 2023 and into 2024, so it's only a matter of time for more to follow. I worked at a large American corporate and the then internal joke was that there was a major restructure every three years so it was like a ticking time bomb - they now happen much more frequently across the research ecosystem due to the extreme nature of the landscape we live in. It does mean there are more valuable and experienced individuals out there looking for work that can make a significant impact to a team, with their lessons learned and knowledge. It's swings and roundabouts at the end of the day, but it still doesn't feel great to be waiting for your turn to get back on!" —Lou Peck, CEO, The International Bunch
"Marketing organizational structures are set to evolve, reducing fragmentation. Teams that are commonly found in marketing across different industries, such as customer experience, audience engagement, customer/audience insights, and data analytics, will be integrated into marketing teams. Marketing leaders will seek to augment their existing teams with external experts to navigate the transformation, and they will thoughtfully determine which roles should be in-house versus outsourced." —Colleen Scollans, Marketing & CX, Clarke & Esposito
The Hope of AI
"That publishers experimenting with Generative AI will have an ‘oh sh*t’ moment when they learn what scaling to a product looks like (and can cost). And that they will have an ‘oh great’ moment, when they learn about how Interpretive AI can help." —Tim Barton, CEO, Hum"GenAI will become integral part of most workflows." —Christian Kohl, Director, Technology & Engineering, PLOS
"AI tools have such potential for good in scholarly publishing and research processes and we need to foster it. Academics deeply understand the challenges of making new methods better, so I hope we keep seeing inclusion of them as we develop new AI tools. There's a real urgency to include AI tools in everyone's portfolio but we need to keep doing things the right way, particularly since our audience is used to bringing their critical "peer reviewing" eye to our platforms." —Will Fortin, Lead Data Scientist, Hum
Bigger and Better Collaborations
"In 2024, I anticipate the ongoing consolidation of services in the publishing industry, as this trend continues to evolve. However, what's particularly exciting is the emergence of new and innovative integrations that we haven't witnessed before. This suggests a future with enhanced connectivity within the industry, potentially leading to more efficient and collaborative approaches in publishing."—Christian Grubak, Founder & Co-CEO, ChronosHub