Tangible Intangible

Microsoft recently released Windows 8 as their new Operating System. The platform focuses on touch technology; primarily it was designed to be used in tablet computers. The traditional “Start Menu” was already gone, and been replaced by the “Metro Style” menu. Due to legal issues, they renamed the term “Metro” into Modern UI. Although Microsoft receives a very fair rating on their new OS, because it has a lot of competitors, especially in mobile computing: IOS, and Android, by which are more stable and user friendly for consumers. Most consumers still prefer to use Apple, and Android phones, rather than to use Windows phones.

Windows 8 Modern UI

Microsoft has a bad reputation on its first releases of Operating Systems, that’s why most companies don’t want to buy Windows 8. Like Windows Vista, Windows 8 may seem to be very unstable, and there will be application compatibility issues. They have chosen to stick with Windows 7, which is the most stable OS to date.

Lots of ideas and great minds that were combined to create this new operating system.  From planning, conceptualization, and programming, Microsoft came up with Windows 8. They even started developing Windows 9 as the successor, which is expected to be released in 2015.

These ideas, concepts, and knowledge are the intangible assets of the organization. Intangible assets can also become tangible. It can be in a form of a document, a website, a database, or a device that will serve as references or information resource of the company. These are the “tangible intangible” of the organization.

Computer programmers are paid to create new applications. Managers are compensated to solve problems. IT Specialist are there to solve problems on business applications, infrastructure, and to provide enterprise solutions for their clients.

Since the knowledge of a person is intangible, usually brought out when an employee go home, organizations came out with the use of a knowledgebase. Knowledgebase connects the firm’s experts, ideas, processes, guidelines, proven processes and templates, and regardless of geography or specialty and avoiding long costly hours of repeating work. In case that an employee left the company, there will be an available reference regarding his work, especially procedures that can be turn over to the new employee.

IBM Blue Pages

Another tangible intangible of an organization is the Corporate Yellow Pages. We call it “Blue Pages” in IBM. It is like an online profile/ resume, which contains the contact information of an employee, including the job description, expertise, and accomplished projects. Corporate Yellow Pages connects inquirers to experts to save time, reduce error and guess work, and prevents the reinvention of countless wheels (email, Skype, IM, Blogs, Search Queries, and similar tools). These are maps that show where the knowledge of the enterprise is located. Corporate Yellow Pages can be used as a tool for collaboration. By this tool, the organization can easily track those qualified employees to solve problems and capable of handling certain projects.

Next, is the Lessons Learned. Lessons Learned is a documentation of what went right and wrong, what worked and did not work, together with guidelines and / or checklist for others who are engaged to similar projects. Eliminates rework and prevents potential failure. This is useful in commencing a project so that those best procedures or practices are applied, and also prevent potential mistakes that may happen in the future. Lessons Learned is also relevant in events that happen from the past. It shows what good actions must be taken; eliminating inappropriate actions so that the failure won’t happen again.

The last tangible intangible considered a “must have” of the organization is the Competitor Intelligence System. Competitor Intelligence System talks across organizational boundaries that include continuously updated and organized knowledge about suppliers, customers, and competitors. Knowing your competitors strengths and weaknesses will be a great advantage for your organization. You can formulate your own strategy based on your company’s opportunities and threats. Gathering competitive intelligence is not an option, and most businesses can’t afford to dedicate resources to the function. CI system can help small and larger businesses become aware of their market and their competitors more efficiently and effectively.

There you have it, the four tangible intangible of the organization. Since these systems are interrelated, you can form a chain out of these systems, and create a knowledge portal reporting system for the organization.

Intangible assets can be tangible assets. Information and Knowledge can be converted into tangible assets which will give a lot of benefits for the organization.

“Using high-speed microprocessors, intranets, whizzy search-engines, you can automate, spiff up, hyperlink, and turbocharged the apparatus to preserve what might otherwise deteriorate, and catalog what might otherwise disappear.”