Information asset protection is not solely about recognizing and (subjectively) assessing risks and threats anymore, it’s also about recognizing and distinguishing the value of (targeted, high value, competitive advantage) assets.
There’s no other time in business governance history when company profitability and sustainability are more dependant on intangible assets and intellectual property.
There are seven ways in which an early-stage company’s key intangible assets (IP, proprietary know how, reputation, competitive advantages, etc.) become entangled – ensnared in time consuming and costly legal disputes and challenges.
We’re well into the 21st century and the role intangible assets’ are playing as value and growth facilitators in companies is widely acknowledged, but, primarily, only at the 5,000 foot level.
The asymmetric risks associated with investments in early stage company’s, particularly those with intensive portfolios of intangible assets and intellectual property, have literally moved from being ‘just one more risk of doing business’.
Today’s intangible asset audit and assessment must be much more than a mere confirmatory review of IP status using generic checklists or templates developed a decades ago.