Challenge

Within my current responsibilities as managing partner of a strategic consulting firm, I have  been leading several initiatives to create new software solutions that support our clients in  improving management and optimizing the income generated by internal knowledge,  intellectual property, and Intangible assets.

The need of our clients to obtain solutions that help them to manage their intangible  portfolio in a better way has been becoming increasingly important. It is very difficult for  them to know if these intangibles are really being applied in the best way to generate the  best results in their organizations. More worrisome still. Nor do they know the risk they may  be presenting due to the poor protection of these intangibles within the stakeholders of the  organization.

Therefore, we have decided to generate a challenge in order to develop a software solution  that allows the correct identification, classification and allocation for an organization's  intangible assets portfolio.

Selection

During our initial discovery process, we have identified multiple ideas that could support to  solve the problem that this challenge presents to us. After reviewing several of the design  thinking tools, we have decided to use the learning launch tool. We consider that this tool  will allow us to perform several experiments in a short time, which will allow us to validate  our hypothesis about the specific need, and confirm that our idea solves a problem in a  better way than the alternatives currently offered in the market.

Application

The first step in applying our tool was to collect data to prove that our assumption was  correct. After conducting some data analysis, we found fascinating results in a study  conducted by Ocean Tomo. OT is one of the largest intellectual capital merchant banks. This  firm has been studying the behavior and correlation between the average value of tangible  assets vs. Intangible assets of the S&P 500 index during the last 40 years. The results of this  study confirm that nowadays, approximately 87% of the value of a company is intangible.  Compared to the value of intangibles in the 1975, which was around 17%. This 70% growth  trend in the last 4 decades confirms our hypothesis about the importance of knowledge and  strategy about the portfolio of intangibles in the modern economy.

Subsequently, we held ethnographic research sessions with some C-Level from our current  clients, where we conducted a questionnaire with key questions about the current  knowledge they have about their intangible assets. These questions generated important

concerns about lack of control and basic knowledge about how the organization's portfolio  of intangibles is managed. As well as obtaining important feedback on how these  professionals thought that a tool could help them.

Finally, with the data obtained, we proceeded to generate an initial prototype which was  tested in one of our clients (company dedicated to Business Process Outsourcing services).  This test created an important engagement with the client, as well as interesting results and  areas of improvement where the prototype had great options to improve.

Insight

The result of our process has not only generated an important development to attack a  problem of our clients, but, through the application of the prototype in a real situation, we  have realized that we had not considered an important variable: the risk associated with  the intangible asset leakage, loss, or competitors intellectual property infringement. This  important finding was largely due to our client's feedback. Thanks to your engagement  during our test phase, we have been able to identify new opportunities for improvement.  This insight has generated new additional development for algorithm that allows to identify  alerts and risks to be able to take corrective actions in a short time.

Approach

For these types of challenges, I think that the learning launch tool is a very powerful, fast  and concrete option, which I would use again in these types of situations. Personally, it has  been a very rewarding experience. In the past, I would have addressed this type of problem  making a business case, in which we would have spent a lot of time and the result would  not have been the same, since the level of uncertainty in this type of situations is extremely  high. Instead, with the application of the learning launch tool, I was able to obtain fast  results, valuable collaboration and response from the client, as well as allowing us to  redesign our solution to offer a better application.


Challenge Within my current responsibilities as managing partner of a strategic consulting firm , I have been leading several initiatives to create new software solutions that support our clients in improving management and optimizing the income generated by internal knowledge , intellectual property , and Intangible assets . The need of our clients to obtain solutions that help them to manage their intangible portfolio in a better way has been becoming increasingly important . It is very difficult for them to know if these intangibles are really being applied in the best way to generate the best results in their organizations . More worrisome still . Nor do they know the risk they may be presenting due to the poor protection of these intangibles within the stakeholders of the organization . Therefore , we have decided to generate a challenge in order to develop a software solution that allows the correct identification , classification and allocation for an organization 's intangible assets portfolio . Selection During our initial discovery process , we have identified multiple ideas that could support to solve the problem that this challenge presents to us . After reviewing several of the design thinking tools , we have decided to use the learning launch tool . We consider that this tool will allow us to perform several experiments in a short time , which will allow us to validate our hypothesis about the specific need , and confirm that our idea solves a problem in a better way than the alternatives currently offered in the market . Application The first step in applying our tool was to collect data to prove that our assumption was correct . After conducting some data analysis , we found fascinating results in a study conducted by Ocean Tomo . OT is one of the largest intellectual capital merchant banks . This firm has been studying the behavior and correlation between the average value of tangible assets vs. Intangible assets of the S&P 500 index during the last 40 years . The results of this study confirm that nowadays , approximately 87 % of the value of a company is intangible . Compared to the value of intangibles in the 1975 , which was around 17 % . This 70 % growth trend in the last 4 decades confirms our hypothesis about the importance of knowledge and strategy about the portfolio of intangibles in the modern economy . Subsequently , we held ethnographic research sessions with some C - Level from our current clients , where we conducted a questionnaire with key questions about the current knowledge they have about their intangible assets . These questions generated important concerns about lack of control and basic knowledge about how the organization 's portfolio of intangibles is managed . As well as obtaining important feedback on how these professionals thought that a tool could help them . Finally , with the data obtained , we proceeded to generate an initial prototype which was tested in one of our clients ( company dedicated to Business Process Outsourcing services ) . This test created an important engagement with the client , as well as interesting results and areas of improvement where the prototype had great options to improve . Insight The result of our process has not only generated an important development to attack a problem of our clients , but , through the application of the prototype in a real situation , we have realized that we had not considered an important variable : the risk associated with the intangible asset leakage , loss , or competitors intellectual property infringement . This important finding was largely due to our client 's feedback . Thanks to your engagement during our test phase , we have been able to identify new opportunities for improvement . This insight has generated new additional development for algorithm that allows to identify alerts and risks to be able to take corrective actions in a short time . Approach For these types of challenges , I think that the learning launch tool is a very powerful , fast and concrete option , which I would use again in these types of situations . Personally , it has been a very rewarding experience . In the past , I would have addressed this type of problem making a business case , in which we would have spent a lot of time and the result would not have been the same , since the level of uncertainty in this type of situations is extremely high . Instead , with the application of the learning launch tool , I was able to obtain fast results , valuable collaboration and response from the client , as well as allowing us to redesign our solution to offer a better application .