#PaiRED: Intellectual Capital
There is no question that decision-making is more dependent now than ever on the strength of intangible assets. These intangible assets help to increase competitive advantages and add value. The word intangible comes from the Latin word tangere or touches. They are assets that cannot be touched because they have no body. This brings up the question of people and innovation. People care about tangible but the innovation they inspire and deliver on is not. The digital age has given us a world that is made of information and data. It is more important than any other resource. It is the raw material of innovation and the decision-making process. Intangible assets are long term competitive advantages for companies and even industry sectors (Bughin & Manyika, 2021).
We used to say “the gold is in the data” but intangible assets have changed all that. Data alone is of little use to organizations. Information is now the key. Information is formed from the data but is more than just data. It is intended to change the way a customer, client or recipient sees something. It impacts their behaviors and decisions. Intellectual capital is a term used to describe the sum total of all the collective knowledge in a company. Intellectual capital is an intangible asset. In order for intellectual capital to benefit the company, it is better if it is systematized. This prevents loss when people leave and/or when they go to work for the competition.
Human beings make up the market. They create the demand for company products and services. In order for organizations to survive they have to offer goods and services to a market. They need to have processes and structures to meet human demand. Everything starts with humans. It may go through processes that involve humans and/or AI and then return something back to humans. Intangible assets are created to ultimately serve humans, inside or outside of the company. The processes are there to serve humans, not the other way around. Some examples of processes that can become intangible assets are access to information systems, alignment of human resources strategy, learning and development pathways, copyrights, competitive intelligence, networks of organizational relationships, waste reduction and sustainability, and employee satisfaction.
#PaiRED, #BobbeBaggio, #AI@Work, #WFH, #ThePajamaEffect, #Touchpoints, #Visual Connection
