In the digital economy, information, properly deployed, is a catalyst for value. It is the information that flows through the platforms that together represent an organization’s digital presence. And it is the pillars of value that represent an organization’s information mantra. Information is nothing less than the lifeblood for converting content to value in the digital economy. The Information Value Estimator (IVE) is a tool that is used to estimate the effectiveness of information in your organization and derives an attempt to estimate the uplift in revenue that is achievable by improving the management of information as an asset of the organization. It is absolutely true that analytics is a big part of the equation. However, for the majority of opportunities, particularly when disruptive times prevail, where information can make a big difference is realized when a high degree of autonomous analytics is involved. This autonomy will accelerate the execution of information based actions taken in the digital economy by an organization. A keen understanding of how business processes consume information is required to deploy this level of autonomy. A low level of resistance to putting the faith of the organization into these autonomous analytics is required to optimize value in the digital economy. The means to review, countermand and tune these autonomous analytics is mandatory. The Information Value Estimator, available upon request, can be used as a self-service tool. Its use is intended to serve as a vehicle to identify initiative opportunities, few of which will be traditional IT opportunities, that will have a measurable impact on the value of information. It is recommended to augment the estimator with a benchmarking of information value to show progress made and refine deficiencies that will impact the ability to wield information in the digital economy.

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ABSTRACT
In the digital economy, information, properly deployed, is a catalyst for value. It is the information
that flows through the platforms that together represent an organization’s digital presence. And it is
the pillars of value that represent an organization’s information mantra. Information is nothing less
than the lifeblood for converting content to value in the digital economy.
The Information Value Estimator (IVE) is a tool that is used to estimate the effectiveness of
information in your organization and derives an attempt to estimate the uplift in revenue that is
achievable by improving the management of information as an asset of the organization.
It is absolutely true that analytics is a big part of the equation. However, for the majority of
opportunities, particularly when disruptive times prevail, where information can make a big
difference is realized when a high degree of autonomous analytics is involved. This autonomy will
accelerate the execution of information based actions taken in the digital economy by an
organization. A keen understanding of how business processes consume information is required to
deploy this level of autonomy. A low level of resistance to putting the faith of the organization into
these autonomous analytics is required to optimize value in the digital economy. The means to
review, countermand and tune these autonomous analytics is mandatory.
The Information Value Estimator, available upon request, can be used as a self-service tool. Its use is
intended to serve as a vehicle to identify initiative opportunities, few of which will be traditional IT
opportunities, that will have a measurable impact on the value of information. It is recommended to
augment the estimator with a benchmarking of information value to show progress made and refine
deficiencies that will impact the ability to wield information in the digital economy.

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Introducing the Information Value Estimator
The purpose of this writing is to introduce the information value estimator, a precursor to the
information valuation engine, and explain how to complete the components of the information value
estimator. The estimator is comprised of components which:
 Devise an estimate of information value presented using a pro-forma P&L.
 Estimate where your organization goes for the information required by business processes
across the business scenarios faced (Business as Usual, Non-Business as Usual, Disruptive).
 Estimate how key personnel of your organization sees the effectiveness of information through
the lens of the pillars of value in comparison to competitors.
 Estimate how key personnel of your organization sees how the organization deals with change
through the lens of the pillars of value in comparison to competitors.
 Estimate how the resistance to using information effects the usage of information in the key
business processes that will render value for the organization.
The components of the Information Value Estimator
The Information Value Estimator is comprised of several sections being:
 The navigation menu used to navigate across the components of the information value
estimator. The navigation menu provides a peek into the computed additional revenue
potentially available through remedying items as recorded in the information value estimator
and is the launching pad to the pages used to display and enter information into the information
value estimator.
 The cover page, which is where you expose your identity so that InfoSight Partners can further
analyze the results of the information value estimator and provide additional insight.
 The information valuation estimator page, which, through information entered on the other
components of the information value estimator and configuration information entered on the
information valuation estimator page computes an estimate of information value presented
through a pro forma P&L and casts an estimate of the additional revenue available by elevating
the management of information as an asset of the organization.
 The information usage page, which is used to gain an understanding into how information is
used across various business scenarios.
 The pillar effectiveness page, which collects how you the captains of your organization believe
your organization stacked up against the competition across several key metrics organized
around the pillars of value. The pillar effectiveness page also returns a graphical analysis of the
information entered recast to align to the pillars of value.
 The pillar relative strength page, which collects how you see your organizations ability to react
to change against competitors across a number of metrics. The pillar relative strength page also
returns a series of graphical analyses to provide insight not necessarily obvious by looking at the
information entered.

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 The resistance page, which collects the information about the impediments to using information
when it counts.
Figure 1 | Navigation Menu for the Information Value Estimation tool
Properly wielding the information value estimator
There have been a few times in history which has ushered in a period of great change. We are amidst
one of these times, in which communications and the infrastructure support communications has
become significantly cheaper and is influencing changes for the foreseeable future. In many cases, the
marginal cost of delivering the information, the catalyst for digital commerce is very likely zero in many
cases. No wonder pure play digital companies, who thrive on exploiting massive amounts of data (the
likes of Google, Amazon, Uber, Facebook, and others) can give data away. What they get back is
knowledge about the consumer that is gold for conducting digital commerce.
Companies which have engaged in exploiting information in such a way to elevate their change to obtain
referral income by serving as an information consolidator have figured out how to build a better
mousetrap to extract value from information by sharing in the value achieved from those earning
revenue from referrals source by these companies. Once again, the business of these organizations is to
optimize the value of information by making it easier for consumers to convert information into
commerce.
Because they are always trying to build a better mousetrap to attract consumers to use the information
they make available at no out of pocket cost (we will talk about the true costs to the consumer later),
small enhancements to make the information they splay before the consumer make a big difference in
attracting the attention of the consumer. The big investments they make should be four-fold (they are

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not always, which is why some of these firms have difficulty monetizing the investment they make in
splaying information for free), these being:
 Having a relentless focus on understanding how the information deployed is used by consumers
in the route chosen that often converts information into commercial activities with a relentless
focus on the means for monetizing deployed information.
 Having a relentless focus on ensuring that the information deployed for consumers has a high
value to consumers and is spread by consumers for the benefit of consumers. The deployed
information can be pushed to consumers, but the information that has the greatest reach is that
which “goes viral”, or information that is spread rapidly to a large audience, many of whom you
had no prior relationship with, is pulled by consumers. Understanding which information is best
delivered through push mechanisms, which is best delivered through pull mechanisms and how
to optimize the reach and breadth of information delivered through a pull mechanism is
necessary. Ensuring the information is available for use at the convenience of the consumer is
necessary to optimize the reach of delivered information.
 Having a well devised plan on how autonomous analytics support the relationship with
consumers and other participants in your value chain and the monetization assurance of that
relationship. While many analyses can be made autonomous, some will provide marginal value
while other analytics may even detract from value.
 Having a relentless focus on the pillars of value, each of which could potentially derail the ability
to monetize and the ability to garner insight.
The information value estimation tool is devised to allow for changing a number of parameters to
identify how changes in the management of information will result in changing the value of information,
realized as additional potential revenue being made available to the organization.
The Information Valuation Estimation page
The information valuation estimation page is the place where all the information collected for
completing he information valuation estimator tool is assembled into a pro forma P&L and an estimate
of the revenue available to achieve through the improvement of practices employed to manage
information as an organizational asset.
The information valuation estimation page must be configured with key experiential estimates such as
 The average number of events before a revenue generating transaction is achieved
 An estimate of the average weekly digital revenue
 The experience in converting information to commercial revenue generating transactions

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 An estimate of the number of commercial transactions
 Estimates of the content pulled by and pushed to consumers weekly
 Estimates of key financial information, such as the cost of goods sold %, the average direct costs
%, the cost of conducting business through non-direct platforms and the average cost to create
content
Figure 2 |The Information Valuation Estimation Page
The Information Usage page
The information usage page is devised to understand how you source information for business as usual,
non-business as usual and disruptive business scenarios. This page serves as the input for how often
you are relegated to going with your gut for key decisions, use local copies of information, go back to
raw data rather than prepared information or use the information prepared for analysis.

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Figure 3 |The Information Usage page
The Pillar Effectiveness Page
The Pillar Effectiveness page collects statistics on how your leadership views their capabilities on key
metrics as opposed to the competition and the relative importance of the metrics as a means to garner
the effectiveness of the information valuation pillars in your organization.
A graphical analysis of the pillars of value is derived from the input provided on the pillar effectiveness
page.

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Figure 4 | The Pillar Effectiveness page
The Pillar Relative Strength page
The pillar relative strength page is used to gather information about how your organization deals with
an anomaly in business as usual, non-business as usual and disruptive business scenarios and whether
business leaders in your organization believe that the practices compare well to or are opportunities for
improvement when matched up against competitors.
Similarly, graphical analyses of the information provided is displayed on this page.
Figure 5 | The Pillar Relative Strengths page

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Resistance Factors page
The resistance factors page is used to gauge the percentage of times information is not used when it
would make a difference and the core reasons information is not consumed for these critical decisions.
A graphical representation of the information provided is returned for analysis.
Figure 6 | The Resistance Factors page
The Cover page
The cover page is used to provide key information back to InfoSight Partners when returning a
completed workbook by email or to identify key respondents of the information valuation estimation
process.

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Figure 7 |The Information Valuation Estimator cover page
How to complete the information valuation estimator
Once the pages of the information value estimator tool are completed, there is an opportunity to review
the information and determine what is exactly impeding your organization from realizing the full value
potential from the information available to your organization. This should be accomplished in three
ways.
1. Understand the components of the information value estimator so that it can be completed
quickly before individual agendas and mandates can tarnish the value gleaned from the analysis
of the information valuation estimator.
2. Provide the information valuation estimator to senior executives who are accountable for
wielding information in such a way that results in organizational value to understand how they
use information, gain an understanding of their impression of how the organization stacks up
against the competition and gain an appreciation of the reasons that contribute to impeding the
use of information when it counts. We have found that facilitated sessions are an effective
venue for collecting this necessary information before personal agendas and mandates can
tarnish the outcomes.
3. Integrate the results of the information value estimator into a benchmark so that the progress
of activities devised to improve the wielding of information to garner information value can be
assessed and tuned to ensure the organization is on the appropriate trajectory.

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Using the information made available by the Information Valuation
Estimator (IVE)
The information valuation estimator provides an estimate of the revenue uplift potentially available by
getting your data house in order. But it should be used for much more than that. The IVE should give
insight into where the business leaders believe they have deficiencies in their practices for utilizing
information as a competitive weapon, the procedural deficiencies that are standing in the way of
garnering information excellence and the resistance factors standing in the way of information
excellence.
This information should be factored into determining what initiatives would make a difference not to
housing information more efficiently, we have had many opportunities to wield those initiatives and
some of them have had a profound impact on the bottom line, but it is suspected that impact was
achieved through unintended consequences because the way in which information is used by the
business was missing from the equation.
If information is going to be made available to business processes in an autonomous mode and in a
vastly accelerated mode for less automated processes, then demanding that information be refactored
by the business community to be usable for analysis is not sufficient. But understanding which
information will have the greatest impact and starting a mapping exercise to understand the linkages of
information, business processes and the actors, autonomous or not that act on the integration points of
information and process is necessary. Whether implemented through a self-service activity, providing
the raw self-service activity for further analysis, run the information valuation estimation process
though a facilitated session that culminates with the extended analysis or integrate the information
valuation estimation process into a more comprehensive benchmarking process, the results are what
will help determine where to start shifting to managing the information assets of your organization and
be able to measure the value achieved from the usage of information as it is consumed in business
processes.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Albala has been one of the early practitioners in wielding
information as a competitive weapon and has served as an advisor
to vendors and analysts serving the information insight industries.
Mark has served much of his career in devising insightful ways to
deliver information that is most usable to deriving and executing
action plans. Mark has concentrated a significant portion of his
career in ensuring that the information made available is usable by
eliminating the reasons for not using information when it counts.
Mark currently serves as President of InfoSight Partners, L.L.C., which is a firm whose mission is to
help organizations facilitate their focus into wielding the value of their information assets.
Mark has served in a variety of information strategy, architecture and governance roles and has
been an influential futurist in defining ways in which information could be wielded, and has been
an active advocate of the disciplines of information economics and the acceptance and
management of information as an organizational asset.
Mark currently serves as an advisor to companies and analysts and can be reached at
mark@infosightpartners.com.