When I think about what value our IVR technology offers customers, it feels like it applies to all of technology and the value it brings to humans in general, and I’m simply using IVR as an example.

How do you put a value on the benefit that IVR provides us? For most, it’s more a matter of convenience and self-service. For some, though, it’s a matter of good health.

Healthcare providers are turning more and more to IVR for continued treatment. Following invasive operations, for example, patients are using IVR apps to keep daily pain logs. And, during recovery, addicts are using IVRs to keep daily mood and craving logs, as part of their treatment.

I’d wager those patients might value an IVR company higher than a lot of non-patients.

The Guardian newspaper published a list some of the things the tech world at large learned in 2012. Number two on the list is that it’s hard to value technology companies.

By value the Guardian is talking about what monetary price Wall Street puts on a tech company, but it’s all the same. To determine the stock value of a company going public, for example, analysts have to look at all aspects of the technology the company makes and how it can fit a niche in the marketplace or create its own niche.

The big lesson in 2012, of course, was the Facebook IPO. From the Guardian:

Before Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO), the big question was: how much is the company worth? Post-IPO, the answer was: less than we thought—or were led to believe by Wall Street. Facebook shares fell 24% in the first three days of open trading, a fact that has led some disgruntled investors to contemplate legal action.

Right. So, Wall Street clearly believed Facebook was worth a certain amount, but the investing world at large decided that Facebook wasn’t really worth what Wall Street thought it was.

It’s subjective, to a degree. The only thing that isn’t subjective is that whatever the technology is, it has to bring value on a human level. To me, that’s how you value a tech company’s worth.