Michael D. Moberly June 10, 2009
The management, stewardship, and oversight of company intangible assets are rapidly moving from discretionary prerogatives of management teams, i.e., they will be addressed when there’s time or when there’s evidence that competitors are doing it, to straight-up fiduciary responsibilities, which prudence suggests should not be delegated to the uninitiated.
The chief reason; 65+% of most company’s value, sources of revenue, sustainability, and future wealth creation lie in – are directly linked to intangible assets!
Managing, stewarding, and overseeing a company’s intangibles need not become burdensome, time consuming, or costly endeavors to execute. What’s required though are forward thinkers and forward lookers who possess an objective and passionate appreciation for the role and function of intangibles and how to utilize them in a business arena in which success, failure, and mediocrity are increasingly determined by which company’s manage their intangible assets best!
Here are eight steps to better management, stewardship, and oversight of a company’s intangible assets:
1. recognize the importance of learning what intangible assets are and how they’re relevant to your company…
2. critically examine company processes, procedures, operations, etc., to reveal (unveil) embedded, overlooked, but very likely, valuable and leveragable intangible assets…
3. conduct an initial assessment to identify and unravel each intangibles’ status, stability, fragility, value, and sustainability…
4. develop a ‘roadmap’ of the company’s intangible assets to identify the producers, location, and linkages – contributions to producing efficiencies, competitive advantages, and revenue (value)…
5. develop strategies (how) to (a.) maximize the use of those assets through internal – external collaborations, alliances, transfers, etc., and (b.) align the assets with the company’s core business and strategic plan…
6. integrate company-wide knowledge – awareness programs about intangible assets that interface with personnel training and evaluation!
7. integrate ‘best practices’ to ensure the intangible assets that have been identified as contributing to company value and revenue are sustainable, e.g., their value, control, use, and ownership are effectively protected, monitored, and preserved!
8. monitor (re-assess, re-evaluate, audit) those processes related to sustaining control, use, ownership, and value of the assets to identify gaps that should be addressed relative to maximizing and extracting value!
