Everyone starts with the ‘brains they were born with’. There is great potential to add to that first intellectual asset in so many ways including experience, education and relationships. So too with businesses! Individuals have a memory of experiences, display educational qualifications and maintain contacts and interaction. So too with businesses?
One of the purposes of this web site is to remind companies to cherish, augment and care for the intangible assets that have augmented the brains you were born with. If you don’t measure it you don’t manage it so we recommend you create an inventory of your intellectual assets.
Why inventory your Intellectual Assets
• An intellectual assets is saleable but you need to know what you own to put a price on it.
• It is easy to over look intangibles or let things slide such as address updates & trademark renewals
• Unconventional items may have a meaning or value in the business for example the reason for a Google ranking
• Intellectual assets are exploitable and help differentiate your business from others
• A simple inventory will highlight areas to improve or enhance
What Classifies as Intellectual Assets
• A hard one to start with but the ‘perception of your customers’ is a crucial feature of any business. It requires working on and isn’t always obvious to those who run the business. It isn’t your perception or blind faith but the customers view that is valuable.
• Your defendable space in the market through benefits, intellectual properties and the clarity of personality of the business. In brand speak this would be the promises you make to your customers.
• The how you go about delivering your promise and creating perceptions will cover a wide range of assets including people, know-how, systems, databases and marketing.
• How you shape up in a Political, Economic, Social and Technical (PEST) analysis will lead to the recognition of other Intellectual Assets. This can’t be a perfect comprehensive list without your active involvement.
We do not think businesses are up to speed with Intellectual Assets. In many instances it is seen as a ‘personal thing’ rather than a corporate opportunity.
For an Intellectual Asset Audit contact Brian Pettinger at Euromatch (GB) Ltd
For an Intellectual Asset Register mail@brianpettinger.co.uk
