ABSTRACT
This chapter anticipates robust industry markets for data and content, automatic information trading, and an economic fluidity for information approaching or even surpassing that of cash. Certain unique economic and behavioral characteristics of information render it more useful than other assets in some circumstances. This infonomics boom will lead to organizations finding unimaginably creative ways of harvesting or generating valuable information assets, and of marketing them. The chapter considers how current information management standards fall far short of the discipline with which other kinds of assets are managed. In examining the concepts of the supply chain and ecosystem, and traditional asset management approaches, we can envision how information assets may be managed with orders of magnitude improved discipline. The emergence of the chief data officer (CDO) role in many organizations, and across all industries, indicates a growing recognition of information as a strategic business asset. Other global trends with specific information-related implications are privacy and security.
