The intangible capital of your business is what creates value for your company, makes your customers buy, etc., but it is not found in your company's accounts.
However, without this intangible capital, no company can grow.
We are going to present you with 5 good reasons to work on it, to train yourself to better understand it for your own good.
1/ Digital transformation
You have been hearing this term almost everywhere for some time, but digital transformation is the tree that hides the forest.
What does it mean to digitally transform a company? Putting robots or automating? Computerise everything? Being visible on the web?
It's a bit of everything, depending on the company and the sector of activity, but that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is what you have to do beforehand!
This requires a complete and sincere reflection to rethink your company, its tools, its processes. It is a component of intangible capital that is constantly evolving. Indeed, the resulting evolution creates, immediately and in the longer term, a better appreciation, a higher value of your company.
But how do you implement this consistently and effectively?
By defining your objectives at the strategic level, you will have a good reason to take an interest in digital transformation and to implement it in the best possible way.
2/ The strategy
Strategy is not a long theory, but the concretisation of what you want to do with your business.
In some cases it is not easy, because you have to decide. But the more you are aware of the issues, the better you know the situation and the options, and the better we can decide.
We simply believe that we must move forward, because deciding is not about making a painful choice, but rather about clearing the horizon for action.
Whatever the size of your company, raising awareness and sharing with your employees is always a profitable decision, because it allows everyone to better understand the issues at stake and training is a very good vector. It is another component of your intangible capital and you are the main actor of the strategy.
3/ Training
As we have just seen, training employees is always beneficial as long as the training is linked to the evolution of the company, but also to a better understanding of the internal or external changes in a company.
Everything is moving very fast and we all feel a bit lost. If you don't act, your employees will be less effective, at best, or even demotivated, indifferent or worse.
Given the extent and speed of the changes that are taking place, it seems to us to be very important to be able to keep ahead of your competitors and it is thanks to training actions that you will unite and motivate your employees.
Human capital is another component of intangible capital. So start by making your employees, your teams, aware or re-aware of what the company in which they work is for them, and what they must contribute and share in order to be more effective, but also happier at work!
4/ Process in the company
As we have seen above, the more you know about your environment, the more securely you act.
The intangible capital here is to be approached in terms of day-to-day operations. But after several years of operation, how many companies then ask themselves whether their offers/teams/functioning are adequate?
And yet, as we have seen, everything evolves rapidly and you are in any case obliged to follow suit! Isn't it more pleasant, more relevant to decide rather than to undergo?
This day-to-day operation deserves all your attention, because it is there that you will gain or regain lost margin points.
Our approach and our training allow you to see the concrete effects very quickly, on financial as well as human aspects.
Example: a workshop in an industrial company that was not working well, where efficiency was poor and staff were indifferent to achieving their objectives.
In a few hours, after having identified the causes, we restored production visibility, remotivated the employees and enabled the sales staff to better manage the schedule with their customers.
5/ The customers
For us, customers, your customers, are at the heart of your intangible capital, because without them, the survival of your company is doomed.
Except in cases where they are "forced" to work through you, your customers usually have a choice of suppliers, service providers or subcontractors. What makes them want to continue working with you and what are their reasons for satisfaction?
We are not talking about theory or big words here, but about the concrete, everyday things.
The customer "value chain" is fundamental and your company must be geared towards the best possible customer satisfaction.
Do you know how to identify it? How to improve it? Share it within your company? Share it with your customers? With your prospects, because your prospects will "buy" your commitments!
Here again, training, understanding of even the simplest issues, and sharing are driving forces in your company for you, the manager, but also for all your colleagues.
You will quickly see the positive effects that simple, but organised, things can produce.
We have discussed some of the performance, profitability and customer satisfaction issues of the companies we work for and with.
If you have any experiences to share or if you would like to know more about intangible capital and all its benefits for you, we would be delighted to talk to you in confidence.