When you hear “business software” or “reporting” You might think of binders filled with charts, spreadsheets, and footnotes. Or perhaps conference rooms crammed with executives who are slogging through slides. What’s missing from these images is the potential for business value creation.

This is changing because of a few digital technologies that are changing the future of reporting. Machine learning and cognitive technologies will do much of the gruntwork of gathering data, preparing reports, and then distributing them. This frees up data room benefits from the security prospects human workers to perform more interesting tasks.

Usage-based pricing is another way to allow teams to gain the benefits of data they already have more efficiently. By cutting down the cost of accessing data this model makes it easier for businesses to correlate value with spend making it easier for them to increase usage and scale their efforts.

Software companies need to rethink their underlying principles of creating, distributing, and charging for their products if they wish to compete in the Age of Connected Work. In the new era, the winners will redefine what it means to be a company that is product-driven in the broadest sense of the word. They’ll use their products to drive retention, acquisition and expansion. That will require a restored determination to focus on the tactical and to expand their “as-a-service” offerings beyond membership rates. It will also necessitate incorporating PLG principles into how they develop, design and deliver their products. To stay ahead, companies must create an integrated technology ecosystem that provides the design, stewardship, and governance needed to leverage data as an asset.