Knowledge as Money the Value

Knowledge as Money

The value of knowledge is directly proportional to the accuracy, relevancy and speed with which it is distributed, shared across an enterprise or organization. Time and again, the value of knowledge is only fully realized when it turns into a catalyst of profitable growth, personal development, or the accelerating of complex processes that would otherwise be grind to halt without it. In this sense, knowledge becomes valuable only when it becomes a catalyst of significant change and growth over time. Individuals, teams and organizations adept at creating knowledge have the ability to transform entire organizations, creating significant value over time. In propagating information, insight and knowledge these "knowledge creators" free up more of their time to create yet more value by generating greater knowledge and insight. An ecosystem develops that becomes self-perpetuating when people, groups or organizations that are adept at creating knowledge freely share it, as their cycles are freed up to deliver continually more over time. This ecosystem breaks down when individuals, groups and organizations fail to realize they also benefit when the knowledge they generate and share can enrich not only their organizations, but themselves as well. Creating and sharing knowledge not only enriches a person, it propels them to even more learning and insight, asking them more valuable in an increasingly competitive and turbulent job market. Insight and intelligence can't be purchased from the outside, it is inherent in a person. Hiring for expertise, which is what many companies are doing today, is actually paying an employee for the ability to generate and share knowledge, not just perform a task.

Faking a Network?

On the Internet, everyone is famous. There's even the term "Internet famous" which is nothing more than the ability to flood websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter, MySpace, FourSquare and the myriad of other social networks with personal traffic. Ironically the most "Internet Famous" of people in the world today resemble the washed up, alcoholic writers of the previous century who would hang around cafes and bars to brag about what they were going to write, instead of actually sitting down and taking on the hard work of producing something of relevance. Too many of those seeking Internet fame aren't producing any content of value; they are re-purposing others' content and working very hard to be a celebrity from being an Internet celebrity. Measures of influence including Klout, PeerIndex and others are easily gamed and can be quickly manipulated to make a person look more important online than they are in real life.

Yet social networks continue to grow and have significant potential for marketers in segmenting their markets, finding influencers of their product sales using Klout and other measures of social influence, and also as collaboration within companies. All of these aspects of social networks have pragmatic value, and can revolutionize how information and knowledge is shared throughout an organization. They have the ability to also serve as a catalyst of information and insight across supply chains, sales forces, services teams, and throughout entire value chains of businesses. Social networks in enterprise have significant potential to deliver value. It's best to see them as platforms for communication.

Keystone Species?

Information ecologies around selling and service ecosystems are the most volatile and susceptible to rapid changes in their content, structure, trajectory of growth and exceptions they have to deal with. The keystone species of this ecosystem is pricing and the systems to support their definition, management and exception management. Pricing as the keystone specifics of selling and service systems also acts as a catalyst of the quantity and profitability of transactions. Pricing also acts as the defining element of how elastic or inelastic demand for products will be as well. Pricing is so potent as a keystone species it can communicate in an instant what the value of an entire business is. Consider the pricing for a diamond ring that is real, over 4 karats large, versus a cubic zirconium imitation and the example becomes very clear. The price of a Yugo car vs. A new Mini also shows this point, and even in commoditized products pricing still sends a very clear message of implied value and market position.

The information ecology of a selling and service ecosystem also requires the ability to flex or stay agile in response to customer requirements and variations in demand and requirements as well. The pricing attribute in these ecosystems is further defined as the keystone species because entire product lines, their profitability and ability to attract a specific type of customer is entirely predicated on its relative position in the market. The value of an effective pricing strategy is also seen in how effectively a sales channel adopts and continually excels with selling new products as well. Often sales teams struggle with new products' positioning and direction, looking to price as the compass of direction.

Two Questions from Final List

Given the readings and assignments in the course, identify and briefly discuss two important concepts applicable to your professional discipline.

The concepts of the value of knowledge being associated with monetary exchange and its ability to deliver profitable operations to a business over time. The ability to translate knowledge into a sustainable competitive advantage over time is also particularly relevant to the professional disciplines of interest. The second area is how effective networks can be at translating company-wide culture and values into achievement and continued momentum towards goals and plans being achieved. When corporate cultures and the accompanying IT systems are designed to support greater information transparency and alignment to corporate objectives, greater results can be achieved.