Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
Sustaining intangible belongings is vital for companies of any measurement or trade. From a small enterprise with a number of staff to a multinational enterprise, organizations should perceive their intangible belongings, their worth, life cycles, transformations and their potential functions at completely different levels. With out this data of the underlying belongings, companies could be unable to take care of their belongings successfully, resulting in waste as a substitute of revenue in a well timed method.
This want has turn into considerably extra vital within the digital age, the place knowledge-based SMEs are driving economies, and their underlying belongings are extra intangible than bodily. Day by day, we hear information about enterprise acquisitions with astronomical greenback figures, many based mostly on intangible belongings like mental property and data. Intangible belongings, in contrast to bodily belongings, are dynamic — they dwell, evolve and remodel all through their lifecycle.
The upkeep of intangible belongings requires a sturdy, iterative administration system to trace their efficiency and guarantee alignment with enterprise targets. ISO 55001 offers a framework to assist this, enabling organizations to strategically handle intangible belongings for long-term success.
Associated: How Intangible Property Have an effect on Enterprise Worth
Digital companies and intangible belongings
Enterprise belongings allow the enterprise goal. In actual fact, the enterprise goal itself is an asset when it makes use of the capabilities of its stakeholders. There’s a direct relationship between the enterprise goal and the worth of its enabling belongings. Because the enterprise goal makes use of belongings extra, the asset’s worth will increase. Elevated demand from the enterprise goal can push the asset additional away from it.
Companies want the best competencies and infrastructure to make the most of their belongings. It’s important to map intangible belongings and enterprise targets iteratively and constantly to make sure a well timed understanding of their relevance to one another. This ongoing alignment helps organizations decide whether or not their evolving intangible belongings proceed to assist enterprise targets and if these targets nonetheless have the capability to leverage the belongings successfully.
Such a follow allows higher decision-making concerning asset transformation or optimization, guaranteeing sustained worth creation.
What’s ISO 55001?
The dynamic nature of intangible belongings calls for a structured method to asset administration. ISO 55001 specifies necessities for establishing, implementing, sustaining and bettering an asset administration system. It applies to all kinds of belongings and organizations, serving to companies handle belongings successfully all through their lifecycle, enhancing worth creation and supporting the achievement of strategic targets.
ISO 55001 offers a baseline framework so as to add construction to asset administration practices. It allows organizations to provoke processes iteratively, from figuring out their enterprise belongings as a portfolio to repeatedly monitoring and bettering asset efficiency.
Associated: 8 Issues You Should Do to Defend Your Property
Intangible belongings — evolution and transformation
The implementation of ISO 55001 as an asset administration system results in predetermined processes that may be initiated iteratively to establish enterprise belongings and guarantee their continuous efficiency. These processes are important for the correct administration of intangible belongings, as their nature differs considerably from bodily belongings. Intangible belongings evolve, and their lifecycle is marked by transformation. The administration system’s iterative method ought to empower organizations to know this evolution and transformation.
To successfully handle intangible belongings, organizations should first outline their asset administration targets by the strategic asset administration plan. This requires a shift in mindset, from specializing in bodily belongings to recognizing the dynamic and evolving nature of intangible belongings.
Continuous monitoring of asset efficiency is essential to make sure consistency between belongings and enterprise targets. The query stays: Does your asset efficiency nonetheless allow the enterprise goal? Intangible belongings, in contrast to bodily ones, might evolve to a degree the place the enterprise goal now not has the capability to make the most of them successfully. This evolution triggers the necessity for transformation, probably turning an intangible asset right into a product on the market.
The complexity of valuing intangible belongings
Valuing intangible belongings is considerably extra advanced than bodily belongings. Their worth should be decided based mostly on their evolution and the enterprise targets they will allow at every stage of transformation. This complexity provides one other layer to asset administration, making ISO 55001 a vital instrument for companies navigating the challenges of managing intangible belongings.
There are finest practices that may be utilized within the valuation of intangible belongings inside a administration system, as outlined by organizations just like the AICPA. These practices emphasize transparency, consistency and the applying of rigorous methodologies. For instance, following AICPA’s pointers on honest worth measurement ensures that intangible belongings reminiscent of mental property and buyer relationships are evaluated with precision. These pointers encourage clear documentation, common efficiency critiques and alignment with strategic targets to take care of the reliability of asset valuations all through their lifecycle.
Integration of ISO 55001 with different administration methods
ISO 55001 follows the Annex SL high-level construction, which allows seamless integration with different administration system requirements like ISO 20000-1 (IT service administration). Since they share a standard construction, organizations can extra simply implement and handle a number of administration methods concurrently, creating effectivity in governance and oversight. This enables for alignment between asset administration and IT service administration practices, selling higher management, threat administration and continuous enchancment throughout completely different capabilities of the group.
Associated: The How-To: Defending Your Mental Property As A Small Enterprise
ISO 55001 provides companies a vital framework for managing the distinctive challenges of intangible belongings within the digital age. Its structured, iterative method ensures that these dynamic belongings evolve in alignment with enterprise targets, supporting worth creation and long-term success. By facilitating continuous monitoring and adaptation, ISO 55001 helps organizations not solely preserve but in addition strategically improve the efficiency of their intangible belongings, guaranteeing they continue to be a key driver of enterprise development in an more and more knowledge-based economic system.
