In my last 3 Part series of posts, I wrote some thoughts about the value of knowledge and the realtor. I did so because for many months I have been writing about the technical aspects of knowledge engineering, structuring data such as property features and attributes into what I call Property Banks. And for a Technology Officer who gets so wrapped up in the Web 2.0/3.0 world and beyond, it is great stuff. At this juncture, who and how in the world can one justify the time and money to integrate this into their business?

C onsequently, I wrote the 3 Part series because justification in anything we do in business is by the numbers. There is a wide disconnect between developing the knowledge asset and valuation or accounting of knowledge. I could write a pretty long essay on the topic, but for the sake of saving space here, lets just say you need to consider both aspects.

Suppose you achieved success in developing and leveraging your knowledge assets and you have a good understanding of your accumulated knowledge. If you have knowledge, people say you are smart. If your company is managing the knowledge assets well, you could say you have a smart company. Smart companies make money.

You may also be surprised that Real Estate firms along with energy companies are the most numerous in a ranking of the Top 100 Smartest Companies In 2007. The method used to calculate this reflects how well a company is at managing information, utilizing their business intelligence otherwise known as their knowledge assets. I have read with great interest the articles by Paul A Strassmann and I thought you would find his web site a real value. His Baseline Magazine article The 100 Smartest Companies of 2007 will give you a wonderful short read on the subject. I think it helps tie together the concepts I have been blogging about particularly when you understand that his valuation totals are based on the "Knowledge Value Per Employee".

Maybe I am to subtle when I write, so I mean to be direct here and now. You need to start taking care of your knowledge base and developing your knowledge assets, even if you do not know fully what that means today, in order to achieve the best financial results in the future. Never mind all the media jargon, the Web this or flickr that and mashup maps. Contrast the young startup Google with the 50 and 100 year old product line companies like GM or P&G in the US today. While they manage staggering amounts of data and information, most firms do not have a Smarts Department yet nor a place on the Income Statement for this equity in knowledge.

John Wubbel

jwubbel@propertyclubpro.com