Top 5 Features of IP Management Software

Intellectual Property management software is becoming more popular by the day. An increasing number of corporate legal departments are using Intellectual property management software solutions to manage their IP assets more effectively. Here are the top 5 features required for a robust IP management software:1) Comprehensive FunctionalityA superior intellectual property management system must have comprehensive features and functionality out-of-the box including (but not limited to) invention disclosure management, patent management, trademark management, IP docketing, IP portfolio management, IP licensing, and spend management.While patent docketing alone may work well for some law firms, corporate legal departments should look at Intellectual property management software to help them achieve long terms goals including servicing their clients better and managing their service providers more effectively.2) Workflow and CollaborationProgressive IP departments are leveraging the workflow and collaboration capabilities provided by Intellectual asset management software to do more work with less resources. This is a dramatic shift from the old-fashioned approach which lacked the ability of sharing data beyond the IP department or allowing outside firms to manage your docket.Good IP management system must provide robust workflow and collaboration capabilities to automate all manual operations, reduce the amount of duplicate data entry, and allow seamless collaboration between inventors, patent committee, IP departments and law firms.3) Reporting and AnalyticsThe increasing volume of IP-related data and activities demand robust analytical and reporting capabilities. Nowadays, your Intellectual asset management solution must provide an integrated set of visualization tools to analyze important metrics to help you conduct historical and comparative trend analysis.Beyond portfolio analysis, these tools must provide you the ability to visualize the overall process and reveal the hidden factors inhibiting planning and stifling performance.4) Configuration (and not customization)To avoid obsolescence, it is critical that the IP management software is configurable. Many vendors try to hide their hard coded applications by talking around this important “C” word.Here is the main difference:If something is configurable, the existing software functionality can be set up to optimize a certain workflow or preference. When configuration is the case, clients can expect results within 24 to 48 hours depending on the stage of implementation or complexity of the case.If something is to be customized, it requires greater investments (human, financial, and technological) for changes to be included in the software code. With customization, be prepared to wait 2-6 months before your request is fulfilled.As you select the best IP management system for your needs, be sure you understand the differences between the two and can clearly differentiate where certain functionality falls.5) IntegrationCorporate IP departments should be able to leverage the investments made by their organizations in HR and financial systems. A good IP management solution should be able to easily integrate with these systems. For example, your IP management system should be able to pull inventor information from HR systems as well as send approved invoices to financial systems.