Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business

Chapter SevenThe Code Halo Economy: The Economics of Information

If you’ve made it this far, you have a pretty good understanding of what Code Halos are and why they are likely to matter to your organization. Hopefully, you’re excited and energized by the possibilities that Code Halos may bring to your organization. But by now your inner accountant is likely asking, “What’s this going to cost? And what financial returns should I reasonably expect for my organization?”

To understand Code Halo economics in more detail, we collaborated with Oxford Economics and futurist Thornton May to survey 300 Global 2000 corporations as to their plans, methods, and expectations of generating value from the fields of information all around them.¹ We conducted dozens of interviews with leading companies in insurance, banking and financial services, healthcare, life sciences, technology, consumer goods/retail, manufacturing, and communications/media across the United States, the UK, Germany, and France.

We found that the business stakes of managing on information are exceptionally high (see Figure 7.1.) Among those who participated in our research, investment in business analytics yielded an average 8.4% increase in revenues and an average 8.1% improvement in cost reductions in the last financial year—$766 billion in economic benefit over the past year alone. If the surveyed companies deployed industry best practices, leaders estimate they could create an additional $853 billion of value. In short, ...