Intellectual Property Management Software - or rather: How do I create real IP management with software?

Intellectual Property Management Software

The requirements for good Intellectual Property Management Software (IPMS for short) are extensive and at the same time face great challenges.

Changing requirements for IP management software

The greatest challenge is, on the one hand, to fulfill all requirements as they have existed since the beginning of the use of software and, on the other hand, to accompany the users of IPMS into the modern world of digitization and the associated requirements with the best possible know-how and tools. In doing so, some older requirements are partially at odds with some newer requirements of digitization.

What are the requirements for IPMS that seem to be mutually exclusive?

On the one hand, the most sensitive data of a company should be protected from any unauthorized access, especially in the IP area. On the other hand, a considerable part of the communication with external parties still takes place via e-mail exchange, whereby either the e-mails or their attachments are encrypted and/or e-mails with attachments are blocked as a matter of principle in order to circumvent the insecure medium of e-mail transport, and many other measures.

On the one hand, expectations of "being informed" are higher today than ever before; on the other hand, IPMS users (and not only them) face a sheer unmanageable flood of information that is a major task to bundle, which is mostly done on the side and in most cases leads to continuous overload of the respective persons concerned.

On the one hand, the self-image of central data availability is growing into new, unprecedented dimensions (because the technical possibilities simply make it possible); on the other hand, especially in the IP world, the distribution of a wide variety of data to a wide variety of data sources (silos) is very typical. Tools that are able to connect the most diverse data silos with each other and map uniform central information sources are rare.

Of course, the whole thing is complicated in the IP world by the existence of a wide variety of offices, patent offices, courts, competent bodies, depending on the country of filing, procedural status and application, which have, sometimes more, sometimes less influence on the data to be managed and are of essential importance. Many of these agencies, if not all, are cooking their own soup as far as data availability is concerned. A common consistent interface across all agencies is still a daring vision today that seems almost absurd.

What is the solution to this dilemma?

Why is it so hard to understand what IP management software should really be?

"Solution" marketing is available everywhere

It is everywhere to read and ubiquitous. Various buzzwords, from countless manufacturers. Why do many manufacturers concern themselves with DIGITALIZATION, TRANSPARENCY and COLLABORATION, when, if we are honest, only makeshift roads are lived, which lead to the goal, but not in a direct way. Which do lead to the goal, but sometimes take longer than if it had been done manually. Our economy and way of working is a long way from digital transformation, and this is influenced by many factors, least of all by the lack of technical possibilities, which have been pushed into the background at least since the advent of genuine cloud solutions.

The astonishing practice shows that software use can sometimes lead to delays instead of shortcuts

Yes, you don't believe it. Except that few see it and many don't have the focus at all. When was the last time you thought about whether, if you had used a certain software, you might have gotten to your goal faster if you had done it the traditional way without software? This is certainly not the classic direction of your thoughts. I had a conversation some time ago with an excellent senior accountant who, with her years of experience, had used various accounting programs umpteen times. She was convinced that "back in the days when there was no software" she got to her goal faster and more accurately with "more correct" results. I could not put this thought aside for a long time and often compared to what extent this statement might also apply to the most diverse patent management programs or trademark management programs. To this day I am convinced that this statement does not apply to IPMS but could it not be of much greater importance that one uses IPMS? Or to put it another way, shouldn't it be much clearer that the use of IPMS leads to really substantial time savings and a strikingly high increase in the quality of information transfer?

The direct benefit of using software for specific use cases must always be clearly identifiable

This is a question every software developer should ask whenever they program a piece of software, a feature, a new capability.

Subsequently, it must be clarified what else can be optimized

Once this question has been clearly answered, one must go one step further. Which steps can be (further) saved? How do you maintain an overview at all times? Are all possible questions that a user may have at the moment really answered in the context in which he is currently moving?

This procedure is not easy but leads to brilliant results

It is an art and requires a high degree of professionalism to work like this. We asked ourselves whether it is worth the effort to look deeply at these aspects every time we change a program. We came to the conclusion that as a manufacturer of IP management software in the cloud, who does not limit itself to just managing IP rights, but goes to market with the mission of enabling truly efficient collaboration and being able to easily track or make strategic decisions at any time, that it is precisely with this claim that we have the success of our company in our hands. 

What is essential is the customer benefit

The customer gets to the destination. At the push of a button. Give us the data and put an end to eternal searching and semi-manual compilation of information overviews combined from paper information, official information from the offices online and the company's own IP management software, and - in the worst case - previously printed lists that have long since become obsolete but are still used so that details are not overlooked. And we live this as a software manufacturer.

By the way, this is real practice and not a figment of our imagination!

Our customers have blazing fast results

Yes, it works. You can query your own know-how, your portfolio, your overall view from your own single source with ease.

Prerequisite are the experts who are responsible for the software

But that takes experts like us. Because: we sit there, in painstaking brainstorming, over and over again.

The task is one every time:

How do we take away the customer's pain.

Is what we offer really goal-oriented or is it easier, faster?

We consider what leads to true transparency,

which leads to efficient work,

which leads to fast, valid and complete results,

where the pitfalls are or could be,

why one does not come still directly(er) to the goal and

what can be done to achieve this direct goal effortlessly and effectively.

At the end of the day, user feedback must validate the approach, what we call "crowning" it

You have to make it your business, you have to have the people who can do it, and you have to see if the user feedback is what you want it to be.

Efficient software use is efficient when the customer can confirm it, every single customer

If all this is true - and only then - one can speak of efficiency in software. Only then does software come out as we offer it. It must be a task of its own, a task that is lived and not (only) "marketed".