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Technology is changing legal contracts.
It allows commercial parties to communicate differently
as they perform over time. For example
conventional IIT outsourcing agreements emerged in the 1970s
when contracts were written on paper
and any changes were delivered slowly, physically
through the United States Postal Service.
Today the methods of communication
are different. Email and text messages
allow for constant, highly granular communications.
This better communication enables a new
kind of outsourcing agreement known as a
vested agreement. A vested agreement is not the rigid
adversarial transaction of the past.
It fosters a flexible relationship that focuses on mutually-agreed
and monitored objectives. A vested agreement calls for
a intensive, daily collaboration and adjustment by the parties.
Such collaboration was not possible
in the past. But now with technologies like telepresence
and instant message, representatives of the outsourcing customer
and the service provider can remain in rich
conversation with each other, constantly evolving
and reevaluating their legal obligations
and business expectations overtime.