I truly enjoyed the movie The Social Network, and it came as no surprise to me when its Best Picture Oscar nomination was announced last week. If you didn’t see the movie, I think you’ll still agree that ideas are valuable and many digital signage companies are not doing a good job of protecting their ideas.

Wikipedia refers to the term "intellectual property" as distinct types of “creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized.” I spoke with a company last week whose only method of protecting its 'exclusive rights" was to write out its idea(s) in detail, explain the idea(s) to a witness who was not on the idea-development team and have the witness sign off on the dated document. That may be one method of first tier protection, but it will not preserve and protect like a patent would.  So, what is the correct protection level for ideas
within an industry such as digital signage that is evolving daily? And how much is said protection worth?  Some may say, "I can’t afford to patent my ideas, it’s too expensive." Others may say, "I can’t afford not to."

Common types of IP protection include copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and industrial design rights. Whenever possible, consider your protection strategy prior to entering your ideation stage. You may also want to confirm that you are not duplicating an idea that is already protected. I am not 100-percent up on IP law, but Intellectual Property Today   publishes a Top-10 Ranked Patent Law Firms list and a Top-10 Ranked Trademark Law Firms list annually, along with other valuable articles and reports that can jump-start your knowledge base.  

Earlier this month I was interviewed by Mariana Osoria for an article for MBA & Educacion Ejecutiva - America Economia. Osoria's article will explore the role of chief strategy officer and the need for that role in Latin America. 

It is an interesting and timely topic that sparked a number of thoughts relevant to the global digital signage industry as we move into the execution phase of many 2011 business plans.  The article highlights the emergence of the chief strategy officer’s (CSO) role over the past decade and the need for such a position as a cornerstone for effectively implementing corporate strategies.  Although this role varies in title and ultimate responsibility by geographic locale, the point of the article was that the activities of a managing director, strategic planning manager, president of business planning, CSO, or C-suite member responsible for corporate level strategic planning needs to occur somewhere in every organization, regardless of title, and that business models as we know them are evolving. 

More than once I have met with senior teams, and one of the first things I hear is that they know they need to map their corporate strategy but feel they can’t allocate a single internal resource to manage the process while maintaining the existing work load. As a result, the role, or skill if you will, is frequently outsourced to a consultant. It’s insightful to point out that, in my opinion, many companies currently do not provide key individuals enough time to actually think about the business and where it should be going, let alone map out a comprehensive strategic plan for an entire organization.

The role of the business strategist is too important to your business for it to be so casually addressed. So, unless you are planning on integrating outsourced talent into your team for a significant period of time (6 months to a year, minimum), you should consider adding this role into your budget and addressing the topic head-on. I call it, “Thinking in, on, and around your business.”  Alternatively, your initiatives will likely fail, or at least fall far short of your current wishful goals.  Strategic, business, and technical plans built by part-time resources, will provide only partial results: It takes money (i.e. committed resources) to make money.