One of the most common problems with a patent portfolio, even a small one, is that everyone involved has a different metric for success. As a result, decision-makers often have little insight into the overall status of the patent portfolio. Addressing this issue requires an understanding of tailored patent strategies for SMEs and large companies to align objectives and metrics across the board.
You might receive micro-status reports about where you stand in the prosecution of each case. But this does not give decision-makers the big picture about the coverage of certain ideas and inventions. Docket reports also lack key performance indicators (KPIs) for the people and processes involved in your company’s patent pipeline.
Here are some ways the TIP tool gives insight into your patent portfolio to everyone responsible for developing and obtaining patents for your company.
Personalized Dashboards For Each Role
You have many different people performing many different roles in your patent acquisition system. The people in each of these roles require different information to know how things are going with your patent portfolio.
- Inventors need to know about the applications for their inventions and where they fit into the portfolio.
- Administrators need an overall view of what is happening with the portfolio
- Managers must have statistics and KPIs for the cases under their management.
- Patent lawyers need detailed information about their docket so they can evaluate the prosecution situation.
Above all else, the people in each of these positions need KPIs that quantify their effectiveness in fulfilling their roles in the patent system. Each person involved in securing patents can access performance information for each stage of the patent pipeline from the idea phase to the prosecution phase.
The TIP tool’s personalized dashboards allow you to follow a thread from the idea to the patent application. The tool provides notification capability so that everyone involved in the portfolio can access the same information.
This accessible and transparent access to information is very different from the way things often happen. Without the TIP tool, your patent counsel often acts as the gatekeeper for this information. Your administrators get monthly docket reports. But your inventors and managers may not receive any tailored information until the patent lawyer requires their involvement.
The TIP tool gives open access to each person to find information tailored to their role. Inventors can see a list of patent applications naming them. They can also see the current status of those applications and a copy or the application as filed.
The Big Picture for Your Company’s Leaders
Additionally, your leadership needs to get their arms around the big picture. The micro status that accompanies the docket report only addresses individual matters at one instant in time.
Instead, they need a dashboard at a high level that covers the entire patent portfolio. This is where the KPIs provide some very valuable insight.
Instead of thinking in terms of patents or inventions, company leaders often think in terms of product or service offerings. An executive might need to know which applications cover features relating to a particular mobile phone model. In the TIP tool, you can tag patent applications to tie them to specific products or features incorporated into many products.
Transparency and Accessibility Sets Everyone Free
The data provided to the people in each role will give them enough information to self-answer any questions they have. This frees up your in-house patent staff and your outside counsel to focus on the acquisition of patents rather than chasing down information. Implementing systems that provide this level of autonomy can be instrumental in reducing overall patent expenditure.
By making this information transparent and accessible, you save time and money. Your in-house counsel does not need to field question after question from staff, inventors, and leaders. Your outside counsel does not need to receive call after call for which the lawyer must bill. Instead, your patent staff can answer these questions themselves using the information appearing on their personalized dashboards.
The dashboard interfaces give everyone the information they need in a simple and timely way. To learn more about the TIP tool and how this information gets presented, visit the Triangle IP website. There, you can view a product tour and view examples of the dashboards.
