Some leading football clubs had begun assessing the value of their leading players, who earn considerable wages; and analysing further which combinations of players links to better results.

This revelation came during the panel discussion at the 23 September event, and offered a vivid illustration of the potential for using statistical analysis to identify successful team combinations and good recruits. There would be no barrier to extending the practice to other sectors; indeed, such analysis is already in use by some companies, though typically not isolated to named individuals.

The half-day conference at Kings Place, London, held on 23 September was the culmination of a three-month research project on human capital analysis and reporting, organised by the Human Capital Forum in association with Logica.

The findings are summarised in the report, Making it Count: Human capital investments that deliver improved business performance, issued free to each delegate. For more information, go to http://tiny.cc/S7vxh