With the consistent and rapid modernization of seemingly every market, it is hard to believe that antiquated industries still exist today. Although people have a natural tendency to become complacent with the way things operate, recent innovations have allowed consumers to demand instant gratification and convenience. We often do not realize just how outdated certain industries are until a better option that is more suited to people’s current needs is introduced.
Take Uber and Lyft, two companies that completely disrupted the outdated, inconvenient and consumer-unfriendly taxi space. Although there is debate regarding whether Uber and Lyft’s models work for all markets, the main takeaway is that antiquated industries last for as long as technological innovation and modernization allow. As recently as five years ago, the taxi space, with all its flaws, was an unbreakable industry with strict commissions and airtight regulations. Fast-forward to today, where ride-sharing has become a fundamental aspect of our everyday lives.
The model of ride-sharing companies paved the way for success for others looking to disrupt long-standing industries, including ValPark Mobile, an app that offers an easier way to pay for parking and NEXT Trucking, an online trucking marketplace designed for shippers and truckers.
Currently, 90 percent of the US trucking market is composed of single truck owner-operators and small fleets that rely on freight brokers to find jobs via phone calls. Turnover rates are high among truckers due to low pay and route preferences that often differ from those assigned through forced dispatching. NEXT Trucking offers transparent procedures for truckers along with the ability to earn higher wages.
NEXT Trucking emphasizes the importance of maintaining a trucker-centric platform that prioritizes transparency, productivity and financial benefits for both shippers and truckers. By allowing truckers to post real-time and future availabilities as well as preferred routes and rates, NEXT Trucking connects drivers from small- and medium-sized trucking companies with shippers searching for competitive pricing.
The recent modernization of antiquated industries transcends transportation, even making its way to the mortgage space with Cloudvirga. CloudvirgaSM is the company behind the cloud-based intelligent Mortgage Platform® (iMP) designed to streamline the mortgage process. The platform is digitizing the mortgage industry by leveraging data and deploying an automated workflow to reduce overall cost, increase transparency, and shorten the time it takes to close a loan for both borrowers and lenders.
LottoGopher, a lottery messenger service that allows users to easily order and manage their state lottery tickets online using a debit or credit card, is another example of a company with a goal to revamp an outdated industry. LottoGopher aims to update the way Americans play the lottery, which is surprisingly outdated given the ubiquity of online orders today.
To purchase a lottery ticket today, lotto players must go to a lottery retail location and pay in cash for a physical ticket. When the winning numbers are announced, lottery ticket holders have no option other than to remember to check their tickets to compare their lucky numbers to the winning numbers. A decade ago, the inconvenience of the responsibility to remember to check a lottery ticket would seem almost comical. However, today, it is seen as a genuine inconvenience, and the lottery hasn’t been able to keep up.
LottoGopher’s online platform makes it simple for users to keep track of their tickets and winnings, even allowing them to either play alone with a single ticket or create and join online public and private groups to pool winnings. LottoGopher also aims to solve the lesser-known problem of unclaimed winning tickets. Each year, close to $2 billion in lottery winnings go unclaimed as a result of players failing to keep up with lottery drawings. By giving users access to a platform that essentially plays the lottery for them, LottoGopher intends to keep the lottery relevant in a changing time.
From transportation to home-buying to entertainment, antiquated industries can be found in nearly every sector. The companies mentioned above are just a fraction of the movement toward making what’s old new again.