Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information as an Asset for Competitive Advantage

by Douglas B. Laney

Many senior executives talk about information as one of their most important assets, but few behave as if it is. They report to the board on the health of their workforce, their financials, their customers, and their partnerships, but rarely the health of their information assets. Corporations typically exhibit greater discipline in tracking and accounting for their office furniture than their data.

Infonomics is the theory, study, and discipline of asserting economic significance to information. It strives to apply both economic and asset management principles and practices to the valuation, handling, and deployment of information assets. This book specifically



CEOs and business leaders how to more fully wield information as a corporate asset CIOs how to improve the flow and accessibility of information CFOs how to help their organizations measure the actual and latent value in their information assets. More directly, this book is for the burgeoning force of chief data officers (CDOs) and other information and analytics leaders in their valiant struggle to help their organizations become more infosavvy.

Author Douglas Laney has spent years researching and developing Infonomics and advising organizations on the infinite opportunities to monetize, manage, and measure information. This book delivers a set of new ideas, frameworks, evidence, and even approaches adapted from other disciplines on how to administer, wield, and understand the value of information. Infonomics can help organizations not only to better develop, sell, and market their offerings, but to transform their organizations altogether.

"Doug Laney masterfully weaves together a collection of great examples with a solid framework to guide readers on how to gain competitive advantage through what he labels "the unruly asset" – data. The framework is comprehensive, the advice practical and the success stories global and across industries and applications." Liz Rowe, Chief Data Officer, State of New Jersey

"A must read for anybody who wants to survive in a data centric world." Shaun Adams, Head of Data Science, Betterbathrooms.com

"Phenomenal! An absolute must read for data practitioners, business leaders and technology strategists. Doug's lucid style has a set a new standard in providing intelligible material in the field of information economics. His passion and knowledge on the subject exudes thru his literature and inspires individuals like me." Ruchi Rajasekhar, Principal Data Architect, MISO Energy

"I highly recommend Infonomics to all aspiring analytics leaders. Doug Laney’s work gives readers a deeper understanding of how and why information should be monetized and managed as an enterprise asset. Laney’s assertion that accounting should recognize information as a capital asset is quite convincing and one I agree with. Infonomics enjoyably echoes that sentiment!" Matt Green, independent business analytics consultant, Atlanta area

"If you care about the digital economy, and you should, read this book." Tanya Shuckhart, Analyst Relations Lead, IRI Worldwide

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Economics, Professional Development, Unfinished, Business Strategy, Technical

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2017

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

Call me weird, but the topic of valuing information is one that I find quite intriguing. Information, or data, is all around us, but with computers and networking we are more aware there is something there that has value. And with the news of ransoming hard disks and innocuous apps that track our every move and sell the information to marketers and politicians, we can see that people are using this information and making money. So how is information valued? Laney provides a typical pop-business start to the book, including a number of customer examples of how companies have valued their information and have made decisions based on their valuation, decisions that other companies that haven’t done this exercise might not even consider. The author is an analyst with Gartner Group, and has access to many companies and their stories, and he chooses some interesting ones that haven’t already been widely repeated. The book ends up becoming more textbook-like in the last 2/3, including plenty of lists and definitions to help those in a company to determine the value of their information and to act on that knowledge. I listened to this on audio, and this is not the kind of book that works well in that medium. While the beginning, with lots of examples, works well, the extensive lists in the rest of the book are very difficult to remember. I wouldn’t recommend listening to this one, unless you just listen to the first few hours. This is more a textbook or reference book anyway, and if you end up wanting to implement some of the ideas brought forth here, you’d want the book to refer to.

I found the book was deeper than I expected, diving into minutia on ways to value information that is probably valuable when you go through that exercise, but overwhelming when you are just considering its use. I enjoyed the examples in the beginning, and I would consider reading another book by Laney on the same topic at a higher level.

[Ged · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a world where you cannot read a business, technical or indeed any other kind of publication without coming across some vacuous 'data is the new oil' statement there would be great value in a brief, sensible treatment of the issues that this raises.

Mr Laney has delivered on that requirement. He has been working in this area for some time and would appear to be well placed to gather his data and form his arguments.

'Infonomics' offers a simple set of principles to treat information like a valuable asset within the organisation, even if for one reason or another the accounting profession has not issued such guidance. To do this he suggests we should Monetize, Manage and Measure and offers some perspectives and frameworks to do so. He collates a list of examples where data has been monetized and refers to that catalogue being held on the Gartner website. (I couldn't find it..perhaps it is behind a paywall.) No matter, I have started to collate my own. Also interesting is how he suggests investors reward 'info-savvy' companies with higher valuations, including the Tobin ratio. More examples of that would be useful as it would encourage selling and buying firms to bring more rigour to their M&A due diligence. He then offers a list of frameworks which might offer techniques on Management such as Supply Chain, Knowledge Management and Human Resource Management. Finally he offers some macro and micro observations on Measurement - the status of information as an asset, and techniques for measuring its intrinsic and business value. Put together, this is a perfectly workable stepping-off point for the curious to frame further research.

Re-reading this in 2021 I notice that many of the principles and proposals the book makes are making it into mainstream discussion. In the area of cyber security for example we have gone from an ad-hoc set of principles that companies struggle to respond to, to a commoditized set of processes that can be turned on in your cloud tenant. ESG scoring shows how non-financial, non-structured data can be used to compare companies against each other and against their virtual signaling. The increase in CDO roles in large and now medium sized companies shows more and more are looking to innovate their data products along with their core products. In the area I am exploring, low code 'citizen' developers should carry out their work with these principles in mind and use it as part of their business case to justify investment.

This book remains the single most accessible reference and Mr Laney remains active in exploring these issues so I look forward to his next offering.

[Guy Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult book to review. I only found a few chapters in this book to be flush with the information I was looking for, but when I got to it it was life changing. I think the book itself is a series of essays, and could have been 150 pages shorter.

[Steven De Landtsheer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this day and age, it is popular to talk about data monetisation and data assets. This is the first book I read that clearly tries to tackle this area and tries to define what it is we are describing, studying.
In my view, the author has done an outstanding job of describing this new field of 'Infonomics'. In the different chapters he tackles different aspects of this field, tries to give a balanced 'state of the union' and doesn't shy from giving his personal opinion where he thinks he can add value to the discussion. Because the book demonstrates at length that nothing in this field is stable, agreed or in consensus. We are just trying to find the right vocabulary to describe what this 'Infonomics' is really about.
If you are serious about data monetisation and data assets, this is a must read.

[Bülent Duagi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing possibilities, probabilities and realizations

[Cenk Undey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting way to apply microeconomics and accounting principles into Information management.

[Amin Rezaei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Infonomics Book, Is written in a comprehensive and not concise way of introducing Data and Information to CEO's and CFO's and leaders or managers in all industries. this book provides more value in your company, by harnessing your own "covered" data or other companies (3rd party, partners, etc) information.

The author began with an old story of watching the first live stream and the fascination with multimedia information technology and what empowers them was the major motivation for him to study and work in this field. He continues by showing his concern that senior executives don't treat information, the health of it as they claim, but instead spending their time and effort on other tangible assets which are not acceptable in today's data age.

The author provides you with examples of different industries and data-driven efficiencies which enable you to focus on most profitable products/services. those examples also teaching the audience how successful companies on the same market are connected to each other by using the shared information, which has mutual benefit for both companies and the consumers as well. He also is claiming that monetizing data in all industries has an endless way. he covers the myths of monetizing which like a barrier hinder business leaders of considering it.

The "Infonomics" is reminding them, using the indirect data not just reduces the cost but increases the conversion in their business. The author has understood the true value of data and its certain degree of liquidity (not as liquid as cash) and recognized the core of the problem in companies, and he offers the resolution, which is the managing the information with the same discipline as their other assets in long-term program, which evolves over time.

I’d like to thank Douglas B. Laney for providing me a copy of this book along with PDF version, in exchange for honest and unbiased feedback for the book. I also have purchased the audio version, which I highly recommend.
http://3ee.info/infonomics-book-by-do...

[Chris Esposo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I was expecting a detailed treatise on pricing information and information products, perhaps similar to partial equilibrium analysis on the material. I'll have to read it again to retain the knowledge, as there is a heavy emphasis of summarizing various open systems interconnection protocol (ISOs).

The book (I thought) was suppose to be about how we can think of information as not only a critical input-component for business, but how we can understand it as an asset to characterize in an accounting format. And although it does work towards this goal, I feel the book never really gets there, instead spending 80% of the text working on the prereqs for that understanding/analysis.

Overall,t he premise and topic are good (and needed), in a time of great change in the enterprise, when more and more of the assets a business may take on is ethereal, with respect to older standards like GAAP, how do we grapple with the fact that information needs to be "priced-in" to any valuation of a businesses' current and future?

The author takes great care of explaining how standardization can sustain the rationalization of information for this process, but from a education pedagogy standpoint, it's hard to digest a long sequence of ISO stricture chapter after chapter for 200 pages+ of text. Perhaps a second reading will solidify the necessity of this exercise, but on this first reading, I came away learning very little of the material.

This book would go well with a more detailed technical work-book. Otherwise, reading it as a general business text, may lead to failure. As of now, a weak conditional recommendation.

[Paul Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful overview of an emerging discipline. The author provides plenty of evidence early on to prove his main thesis: that businesses would benefit from managing information as an asset. Thereafter, he provides numerous suggestions for how this might be done, borrowing concepts from accounting, economics, library science and other disciplines. But he never fully explains how to account for the unique attributes of information (which he also identifies early on): non-rivalrousness and non-depletability. Unlike other assets, information can be used over and over again without losing value, which has tremendous implications for its valuation and management.
My favorite part of the book is chapter 11, in which he introduces six valuation models for information. These models are based on five inputs: data quality metrics, user surveys, administrative costs, market pricing, and controlled experiments (running a business process with and without access to the information). This seems like a reasonable start to a data valuation methodology.
Overall, I found the book useful as a source of new ideas worth exploring and developing further.

[Omer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been well developed as a commercial project unto itself. Although that might be too brutal a review, therein in its honest moments the book is like the wide shoulder of a learned (although not emotionally intelligent) friend that offers wisdom in a long, almost completely useful, stream of consciousness. It does lighten the burden of another and does something for those that can't repay, but in fairness the inference of a 'debt' is egotistical. Too cryptic? I like this book, it's worth reading, personally I found myself wanting more material that's applicable to SBU level infonomics, where the business model doesn't change at the level of the enterprise - but information is capitalised internally, in a large, complex organisation, in keeping with the idea of intelligence assets.

[Mohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was personally hand delivered to me by my Gartner account representative no sooner it was released into the market.

This is an outstanding work on blending economics and accounting with Information thereby creating a new discipline called Infonomics. The author, a distinguished Gartner analyst nevertheless, makes a strong case for not just treating information as a corporate asset, rather empathises the need on managing it as one, by assuming monetary value to each information asset. He even makes a compelling case for disclosing information assets in an organisation’s annual report and balance sheet as an “asset” along with its potential worth.

This is a must read for all analytics and data evangelists.

[Mike Renwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Data is an asset but not recognised on the balance sheet in any meaningful way. This simple fact is astounding when most of us working in data can easily see the value data brings to organisations- underpinning almost everything.

Doug’s work elevates the conversation for data professionals and bridges a critical gap between the board and those who run data in organisations by showing how data can be linked to value.

The various models proposed provide excellent starting points for this endeavour, and its the practical application of this powerful idea that marks this book above similar themed but ultimately rhetorical statements about data being an asset.

[Vaida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like a good long discussion with a friend. Sometimes conversation went proud and excited about what the data world can bring to the companies, the way it can transform them, and help reach unforeseen potential. Sometimes conversation shifted to gentle frustration that data is not appreciated yet as it should be in our companies or courts.
All in all, the book covers a very needed topic of data transformation within companies and the establishment of a data management team to support it.

[Cuong · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the author would mention technical ways to exploit data because it was such a huge asset to a business. However, what the author shares is more of theories and more of “book-keeping” things. The author provides a new and uncommon perspective that I’ve never heard of and some interesting definitions, but these may be possibly more valuable knowledge to people at leadership roles looking for ways to manage data on paper. I was hoping to understand more of strategies to turn data into assets to a business.

[William Glass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Infonomics and found myself thinking of how to apply this new philosophy. Information has undoubtedly been an asset throughout time, yet with the rise of technology, it has now reached an extreme. Doug does a fantastic job showing how powerful valuing information in your business can be as well as the consequences of failing.

If you are interested in a more in-depth review you can find it here: https://financialglass.com/infonomics/

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so concise and detailed packed that it is requires thoughtful attention and I believe multiple reads to absorb the information. I've had the privilege of talking to Doug previously, and his book, like him is thought provoking and insightful. Great job Doug!

[Adam Sipos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exhaustive and exhausting.

[Colin Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Long Ad for Gartner

Besides the loose narratives of Gartner clients doing cool things with data, there just isn’t this much here. Gartner should give this away to drive sales...

[Pablo María Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the more ambitious books I read on data. The author has an extensive knowledge of frameworks from other disciplines (supply chain, economics, etc.) and applies them to the data domain. The goal: to understand, explore, use and valuate data as a strategic asset of any company. The level of depth is refreshing compared to many other approaches that oversimplify concepts. The tradeoff is that in some moments it sounds too theoretical or inapplicable to real world scenario challenges, but I think all readers who lead a data team will take valuable lessons from it.

Some quotes I liked:
“The information about the package is just as important as the package itself.” (Fred Smith, FedEx’s CEO)
“In some situations perhaps information about the customer is just as important as the customer himself.”
“Data scientists are gaining these information curation skills (...) dedicated information curator? If not, perhaps you should.”
“Directing analytics output merely at eyeballs continues to be one of the great fallacies and limitations of BI.”
“We have a better accounting of the toilets throughout this building than our information assets.”

[Vincent Van Wylick · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a common theme to much of my business reading. It’s the accounting for intangibles in the valuation of companies, strategies, and assets. While previously this focused on the value of brands, it has not shifted more and more towards dynamic capabilities that a standard balance sheet does not fully account for.

Information is one side of this equation, investment in intellectual property is another. This book tries to apply several valuation techniques to information or data, an elusive area that like much of the digital realm flows and changes like water, and I think it’s a worthwhile attempt (if you’re into that kind of thing).

But.. like most books, it synthesizes what we already have, but does not provide a golden bullet for any of it. Which, whatever side you stand on, is either a good thing (yay for having unique values that your competitors can’t grasp or replicate) or a bad thing (if you want to be fairly valued by both external investors and internal sponsors). So, another theme in my reading, we’re not there yet!

[Robert Bogue]

Most of the time, we pay no attention to the wind that’s blowing past us. Whether it’s a cool breeze or a warm draft of air rising from the pavement, we’re so used to air movement around us that we rarely consider its implications until we encounter a tornado or a hurricane. Until we’re faced with overwhelming evidence, it’s just background noise. Despite the little attention we pay to them, these drafts of air are clues to the creation of energy. Windmills can convert the cool breeze into electricity, and proper placement of solar panels can capture that solar energy instead of radiating it.

Read more

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

If data is an asset, why don’t businesses value it as such? Why don’t we apply the same economics principles that we use with other assets to guide how we make decisions to curate, protect and leverage the value? I found Laney’s arguments and recommendations compelling. They’re already influencing how I think about the future of data and analytics as a source of multiple opportunities.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really underwhelmed by this book. Maybe his intended audience was not someone like me. For people who are super trusting of data? This is a good place to break that habit. However, if the sole purpose of human potential is boiled down to measurable currency....I think that sells our species short.

[Philip Relander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know that gartner sells services?

The last 1/3-2/3 was solid and would have. Gartner would evaluate this means 33 %-66%

I think the book is maybe 3,5. Multiple reference to gartner should leads to loss of stars.

Im would recommend not buy services from companies that push this hard

[Scott Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like reading a dictionary, very boring

[Adrian Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with ideas from practical context.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book...

[Caesar Moussalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this book is a Gartner Analysis, should I explain more?

[Pedro Martinez · Rating 1 out of 5]

For every example depicted in the book, there would be hundreds of similar cases that did not succeed. While correlation does not mean causation, may we would learn more from the cases that went worse than the lucky ones that made it.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro into Big Data