Knowledge & wealth:

There's cash in those there intangible assets...
The new "knowledge" economy and how XML is set to play a major role in shaping it

IN HIS NEW BOOK, The Wealth of Knowledge, top business journalist Thomas Stewart argues that companies can make untold millions of dollars (or equivalent currency) - and save millions more - by managing knowledge more effectively. In 1999, says Mr Stewart, knowledge was America's most valuable export - the country took in $37 billion in licensing fees and royalties vs. $29 billion for aircraft. An astounding statistic. Not surprisingly, he believes that knowledge (i.e. information combined with expertise) is the most valuable asset modern companies have.

To further back up his argument, Mr Stewart provides compelling accounts of big and small companies around the world successfully tackling the practical issues of knowledge management - and profiting.

Mr Stewart cites a small company in Maine whose core business was collecting debts for fishermen. But then the company began to realize that they were collecting all sorts of useful information - in particular a list of people who weren't paying their bills - and that this knowledge could become a product. So they sold a list of "deadbeats" to fishermen, in addition to their debt collection services. The company went on to add more "knowledge products" to its range including: a list of good payers; a newsletter (with info on which fish-buying businesses had closed and which had opened, etc); and a "Yellow Pages"  type directory (in print and CD-ROM versions).

Marketing knowledge allowed that small company to grow.

High and low tech
Mr Stewart makes clear that harnessing knowledge is beneficial to all types of organization. "The knowledge economy and idea of a knowledge organization is something that applies to every organization, no matter how big or how small, no matter how high or low tech."

Not every company would necessarily compile their knowledge with a view to selling it. It might be used internally to train and assist employees. Or it might be offered free to potential clients or customers to give them a more in-depth idea of what a company offers.

But once you've decided to identify and collect knowledge, you then need to sort out how you are going to organize and retain it.

XML & knowledge - a winning combination?
As chance would have it, the realization of the importance of knowledge to the corporation came at the same time as the emergence of XML as a tool to organize knowledge. Mark Gross, president of Data Conversion Laboratory, picks up this point: "The needs of widespread knowledge dissemination - multiple formats, separation of content from format, the ability to modularize information - are coincidentally, or perhaps not coincidentally, the attributes of XML. But either way, XML ties right into making intellectual capital more valuable into the 21st century," he says.

Mr Gross goes on to point out that: "It's one thing to have knowledge, but in order to be able to share it, either internally or externally, you need to free up your knowledge from proprietary formats - which, arguably restrict the free flow of knowledge."

In short, by combining the power of XML with the knowledge contained in your organization, there is a greater chance of there being "cash in those intangible assets" - because your knowledge base can be organized and deployed in the format of your (or your customers') choice.

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