Over the years we’ve worked with a number of enterprises and organizations that are driven by intellectual property and have considerable teams specialized in IP and patent data linked processes. Most of these organizations had developed their own systems and workflows for analysing and processing intellectual property documents and patent data over time based on how their teams were structured and how they preferred to work with IP data internally. It would often involve the use of multiple patent databases, multiple analysis tools, often spreadsheets, different software and a certain workflow which was defined.

To a team member who is an integral part of the system, it may all seem like it’s a well oiled machine and it all works well but to an outsider coming into the organization, it’s a multitude of various software tools, data sources, applications and processes which may not have been designed as a one-size-fits-all solution and not specifically tailored for the structure and workflow of this particular organization.

Custom software development for intellectual property workflows often helps integrate all the scattered data sources, tools and processes into a seamless, more efficient system tailored to the specific way your IP management and patent analysis team functions. It can help.

a)      Have your software system customized and developed around your processes and workflows rather than have an out of the box software which is designed for generic organizations or even multiple software addressing only some part of the overall requirement.

b)      Reduce inefficiencies caused by juggling multiple software tools used together in order to get things done that don’t seamlessly function together.

c)        Incorporate your organizations best practices, learnings and systems into the way your IP management or patent data software is designed and developed so it is built on what works best for your organization.

d)      Simplify the overall process by developing a system that has only the features and functions that are critical and leave out what is not relevant.

e)      Reduce long term costs by having a tailor made software system which is highly efficient, cuts waste and boosts productivity.

While the intellectual property and patent data domain have a number of great software products and applications readily available, in certain situations it could well worth taking a step back and considering if custom software development to tailor your software to your specific organizational needs may be the right way to go. It may be a short term investment towards long term improvements in the way IP data is managed within the organization.