The Long Journey to Software Valuation

Knowing the Business of Software is key to Success in managing this information society.
The current global economy is no longer about the manufacturing-based economy of the last century, it is becoming a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy of this 21st century. Whereas access to raw materials and factory output helped define success in this last era. In this new economy knowing how to create and maintain tangible business value from software will dictate success in the knowledge economy.
The knowledge economy is about the business of software. Knowing how to valorize software, that is to state that software has value, to know software is made up of components, to document each component, to establish and maintain each components management value, to manage a component risk, and to know how each component impacts the company's balance sheet. Whether licensed out or licensed in, acquired by merger/acquisition, or just plain invested in, the understanding of the various values of software's components is imperative. Growth driven by innovation is a top priority among many CEOs and understanding the business of software is the best way to manage innovation.
The book "The Long Journey to Software Valuation" highlights the importance of knowing software is a financial asset, how it got to be looked at as an asset, and how to manage a software component from the position of treating it as an asset. Thus, to manage software is to manage the components of the software.

Dwight Olson is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP), Director IP Licensing at EXEN Technologies, a Sr. Software IP Advisor to IP Metrics, and a Business Advisor at CONNECT. Olson was a founder of Data Securities International (DSI), which was acquired in 1997 by Iron Mountain Inc. He began his career in the research and development of supercomputers, parallel processing systems and related application architectures in the 60's and 70's. Prior to founding Data Securities International he was a software programmer, architect, researcher, product manager, product line manager, entrepreneur and has held many C level positions and numerous board positions at software companies. Mr. Olson is a past President of the Certified Licensing Professionals, Inc, a former President of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) USA and Canada and served as chair of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) IP valuation committee. As an international delegate to LESI he served as a voting member in the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) of ICANN. He was an associate member of the American Bar Association's Electronic Commerce Law and Information Security Committee working on the ABA's Digital Signature Guidelines. Dwight Olson has over 40 years of experience in computer software commercialization. He is called the "father of technology escrow" and writes and speaks on the topics of technology escrow as a business tool, valuation of software, trusted third parties in licensing, IP, and about securities firms using only electronic records. Mr. Olson received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and teaching credentials from Augsburg University. Books: "Northern Lights the Beauty of the Forgotten Scandinavian Enamel Jewelry Artisans" ISBN-13: 978-0-578-44439-0