Call Accounting Featured Article

Call Accounting's Role in 2017 Tech

  By Steve Anderson, Contributing Writer

It's hard to believe, but the first month of 2017 is nearly half over with already. There's still a lot of 2017 to come, and some of the biggest events have yet to materialize. With that in mind, it's worth considering just how call accounting and other technology will factor therein. New reports from Forrester (News - Alert) Research suggest some key possibilities, and call accounting should slot right into place as the world focuses more on data and customers.

Fundamental transformation with a digital focus will be huge in 2017, and that should put a hefty demand on call accounting systems. With businesses eager to improve from the ground up, that will put a particular burden on measurement and transparency systems, and call accounting fits that point well. That's going to also mean a new budgetary demand, and businesses will need to pony up in grand fashion to cover the cost.

All of this new demand for data will need to be used, thus an increased push into “insights-driven business” will likely come into play as companies look to actually use the data they're spending more to collect. That will also put a premium on agile delivery methods as companies will need to better change practices to accommodate any shifts in data models.

The most efficient data gatherers and interpreters, in turn, may make their successes public by offering up application programming interfaces (APIs) for others to use. Some will go so far as to appoint product managers to oversee development and distribution of this new product. Finally, service providers—who offer many of the necessary tools to engage in these behaviors—will be especially important in this time of rapid change.

To get ahead here, businesses will need to put particular emphasis on transformation as a strategic priority—C-suite involvement will help bust up the budget sufficiently to get those needed augmentations in play—and a focus on business outcomes will help give the C-suite the political base it needs to sell the changes to shareholders. That's going to take a complete, enterprise-wide approach, even to the point where it intersects with human resources, as specific skills will be more prized than ever in this changing field.

No matter how it's considered, 2017 is likely to mean a lot of major changes to come. The shift toward data-driven operations will impact every part of the field and require fundamental changes at every level. 2017 might well be remembered as a year of change, not only in the highest levels of government—a presidential inauguration is days away—but in the highest levels of companies.  That's going to leave us with a lot to consider going forward, and a clear need for more and more information to make these choices worthwhile.