How does taxonomy (classification, categorization, indexing) add value? It depends on who’s asking – and why. In biology, taxonomy helps organize topics for academic study, describe the characteristics and behaviors of living things, and shed light on how they evolved. In library science, classification schemes help people identify and retrieve books on a certain topic. In both cases, the expense of creating and maintaining the taxonomies is shared among many different organizations worldwide. In commercial publishing, the expense is incurred by authors as well as book and database publishers, who try to recoup their investment by selling the same product to thousands of users or buyers. The value is the same – helping people find or re-find information.

But today, taxonomies are adding value in other ways:

• Electronic commerce – Personalizing Web sites for different user groups, synchronizing purchase transactions in a procurement network, identifying the most profitable prospects.
• Leveraging intellectual asset s – Analyzing a portfolio of patents or other intellectual property, "repositioning" content (e.g. articles, reports, etc.) for different audiences, identifying new business opportunities.
• Leveraging know-how – Identifying sources of expertise, both internal and external to an organization.
• Increasing productivity – Intellectual asset logistics (getting the right information to the right person at the right time).

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