What AI does is allow machines to create intangible assets by structuring and accelerating process controls — from human capital to intellectual capital.
What AI does is allow machines to create intangible assets by structuring and accelerating process controls. Examples of this include research and development, communications, computerization, information processing, operations, performance evaluations, operational processes and flows. Other examples are customer service, monitoring, systematic control, building goals and implementing strategies.
There are many ways to categorize and group intangible assets. These four are usually used: human capital, customer capital, organizational capital and intellectual capital.
Human capital is a term coined by the U.S. government. It is used to describe skills and procedures attributed to humans that impact business. It is the economic value of the workers skills and experience. Employers can improve human capital by investing in training, education and other benefits for their employees. Human capital does not appear on the balance sheet as an intangible asset. It has become more valuable in a knowledge-based economy. Human capital can depreciate if the company does not keep up with technologies or if the company does not have the ability to innovate.
Customer capital describes the relationships companies have with their customers. This includes the value customers place on the company and on increased customer solutions. Customer capital is an advantage. Customer capital is intangible. It can include relationships with workers and customers. It can also include franchises, licenses and trademarks.
Organizational capital is a company ability to compose knowledge. It can include intellectual property such as databases, code, patents, proprietary processes, trademarks, software and more. It can also include business processes, shared culture, values and anything intangible that gives it an edge over the competition.
Intellectual capital is the sum total of all the collective knowledge in a company. Either by layoffs, retirement or attrition, much intellectual capital within an organization is lost. Until recently, it was not possible or a priority to capture this within an organization. In the Gig Economy, workers are less loyal and more mobile. Knowledge is lost when workers leave. Their skills are not passed along to others.
Bobbe Baggio, Ph.D.
Advantage Learning Technology